THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


The  JOHN  J.  and  HANNA  M.  MCMANUS 

MORRIS  N.  and  CHESLEY  V.  YOUNG 

Collection 


MAGICIAN'S  TOUR 

UP  AND   DOWN   AND   ROUND    ABOUT 

THE  EAETIT. 

BEING  THE  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  NOSTRADAMUS, 

HARRY  KELLA.R 

EDITED    BY    HIS    FAITHFUL   "FAMILIAR/5 

"SATAN,  JUNIOR  " 


CHICAGO: 

DONOHUE,  HENNEBERRY  &  CO, 

407-425  DEARBORN  STREET 


COPYRIGHTED, 
BY    HARRY    KELLAE-; 


GIFT 


V 


TO 

THE  HONORABLE  MR.  FREDERIC  CONDE"  WILLIAMS 

OF  THE    SUPREME    COURT    OF   MAURITIUS, 

THIS  VOLUME  is  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED, 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR 


058 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTT-STABT  IN  LIFE,  -  - 

II.— THE  BULL  FIGHT,  - 
III.— TRIUMPHAL  TOUR  THROUGH  MEXICO, 
IV.— IN  THE  ROLE  OF  PROPHET, 
V.— THROUGH  SOUTH  AMERICA,    • 
VI.— AROUND  THE  HORN, 
VII.— SHIPWRECK  AND  REVERSES,    • 
VIII.— FIRST  Bow  IN  THE  COLONIES,     - 

AT 

IX  —DINING  WITH  THE  MAHARAJAH, 

wo 

X.— BOAR  HUNT  IN  JAVA, 
XI.— THE  CITY  OF  SHANGHAI, 
XII  —AT  THE  COURT  OF  AVA,    - 
XIII. THE  SPIRITUALIST  EXCITEMENT, 

XIV.— IN  THE  PUNJAUB,    - 

XV.— IN  BOMBAY, 
XVI  —THE  JUGGLERS  OF  INDIA,  - 
XVII,— IN  AFRICA, 
XVIII.— HARD  LUCK  TURNS, 
XIX.— BEFORE  HER  MAJESTY, 

XX  — KlMBERLEY  DIAMOND  FIELDS,    "  - 

XXI —SUBSTITUTE  FOR  JAILS,  - 

1ftft 

XXII.— CHINESE  GORDON,  -          -  ~ 

XXIII.— AMONG  THE  KANGAROOS, 
XXIV.— "  JOHNNY  NEWSKY," 
XXV. — THE  ELEPHANT  HUNT, 
XXVL— IN  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA, 
XXVII.— KELLAR  AND  SPIRITUALISM,    - 
XXVIIL— AT  HIS  OLD  HOME, 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


THE  BULL  FIGHT,  •  15 

FOREST  SCENE  IN  PERU,       .....  23 

THE  PALM  TREE,  ...  27 

A  GATE  OF  MANDALAY,  •                                   31 

RAPID  TRANSIT  IN  MEXICO,        -          •  -           •                 37 

VIEW  OF  MANDALAY,  CAPITAL  OF  BURMAH,  -                        39 

KING  THEBAW  AND  HIS  TWO  QUEENS,   -  •           -                 47 

THE  KING'S  PAGODA,  MANDALAY,    •  55 

THE  SACRED  WHITE  ELEPHANT,  MANDALAY,  -  -      C3 

COSTUME  OF  BURMESE  AMBASSADORS,  •                                   71 

THE  SLAUGHTER-GATE  AT  LUCKNOW,     •  79 

THE  TAJ-MAHAL  AT  AGRA,    -  87 

ROYAL  PALACE  AT  MANDALAY,   -  91 

THE  SNAKE-CHARMER  OF  INDIA,       -  -                                 101 

VIEW  OF  CAIRO,  EGYPT,  •                      •    109 

FOREST  SCENE,  ISLAND  OF  MAURITIUS,  •                                 117 

THE  WHITE  TERRACE,      -  125 

THE  PINK  TERRACE,  -  -133 

A  KANGAROO  HUNT  IN  AUSTRALIA,       -  -    139 

A  ZULU  KRAAL,  -                                  143 

SCENES  IN  THE  STREETS  OF  HEOGO,  JAPAN,    -  -    151 

LADIES  OF  CEYLON,     -  157 

AN  ELEPHANT  HUNT — CEYLON,  -            -  -                       -    163 

VALETTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  MALTA,  -           169 

THE  PHAROS  AT  ALEXANDRIA,  EGYPT,  -  -    175 

NEAR  HAY,  NEW  SOUTH  WALES,    -  177 

SCEXE  NEAR  LAUXCKSTON,  TASMANIA,   -  -    181 

A  GVMPIE  MINEH,       -  -           183 

GRAVES  OF  THE  CALEPHS,           -          -  .          .           ..    193 


A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  I. 

START   IN   LIFE. 

"Come  lithe  and  listen,  gentles   to  me, 
And  I'll  rede  ye  a  lay  of  grammarye." 

So  years  ago  sang  good  honest  Thomas  Ingoldsby, 
the  venerable  and  good  humored  pillar  of  the  Angli- 
can Church,  whose  words  have  delighted  generation 
after  generation  since  the  worthy  Dean  himself  was 
laid  away  with  his  forbears  in  the  odor  of  sanctity. 
That  which  is  to  follow  in  these  pages  is  not  indeed  a 
tale  by  any  means  as  gruesome  or  hair-raising  as  the 
legend  of  the  Spectre  Drummer  Boy  of  Salisbury  Plain, 
or  that  of  Blondie  Jacke  of  Shrewsbury ;  it  is  merely 
the  simple  narration  of  certain  incidents  in  the  life  of 
an  American  "  Wizard  "  who,  whilst  honestly  confessing 
that  he  is  not  in  league  with  any  spirits  whatever,  red 
or  white,  black  or  gray,  goes  on  night  after  night 
producing  illusions  that  either  Nostradamus,  or  Rug- 
gieri,  or  even  the  awful  Merlin  himself  would  assuredly 
have  been  unable  to  do,  with  all  their  charms  and  incan- 
tations. Added  to  this  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  hav- 
ing circumnavigated  the  globe  a  baker's  dozen  or  so  of 
times,  has  had  a  good  many  perilous  adventures  by 
flood  and  field,  the  relation  of  some  of  which  may  serve 
to  while  away  an  idle  hour  to  such  of  his  countrymen 
and  women  who  happen  to  chance  upon  this  screed  in 
the  hap-hazard  reading  of  light  literature.  It  may  be 

(9) 


10  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

surmised  that  this  "  yarn  "  can  be  commenced  without 
any  one  feeling  that  awful  necessity  of  prosecuting  it 
to  the  bitter  end,  which  accompanies  the  perusal  of 
the  ordinary  e very-day  novel.  It  is  like  a  modern 
farce — you  can  begin  at  the  end  or  in  the  middle,  and 
the  effect  is  equally  pleasing. 

The  above  is  intended  as  an  ingenious  means 
of  deluding  people  into  reading  a  preface,  who 
would  "  skip  "  it  directly  if  the  word  "  Preface"  were 
printed  on  the  top  in  big  letters.  But  as  a  junior  devil 
I  am  naturally  of  an  antic  disposition,  and  so  may  be 
easily  imagined  to  be  sitting  on  my  reader's  shoulder 
grinning,  and  girding,  and  mopping,  and  mowing 
heartily  at  the  success  of  my  device. 

Being  after  all  a  good  natured  devil,  and  not 
desirous  of  anything  but  fun  and  true  enjoyment  of 
mankind,  I  will  at  once  seriously  begin  what  I  have  to 
say,  which  is  to  tell  what  I  know  of  the  life  and  adven- 
tures on  this  planet  of  the  master  whom  I  have  served 
so  long  and  so  faithfully,  and  whose  obedient  "  familiar  " 
I  am. 

Well,  then,  my  master's  name,  that  is  the  name  by 
which  he  is  known  to  all,  even  to  good  people  down 
here  (or  up  here)  is  Harry  Kellar,  who  is  known  wher- 
ever the  English  language  is  spoken,  and  in  a  great 
many  places  where  it  is  not.  Of  course,  everybody  in 
these  United  States  is  perfectly  aware  of  the  bitter  con- 
troversy that  has  raged  for  many  years  amongst  very 
learned  pundits,  as  to  whether  Kellar  is  an  actual, 
ordinary,  every-day  man,  with  a  bald  head  and  an 
amiable  disposition,  as  he  appears  to  the  casual  observ- 
er, or  whether  his  plump  and  pleasing  person  is  merely 
an  attractive  mask  which  covers  the  foul  proportions 
of  an  intimate  chum  of  the  monarch  of  the  place  we 
never  mention.  The  way  in  which  the  strife  on  this 
question  continues,  and  occasionally  waxes  more  and 
more  dangerously  virulent,  amuses  me,  as  I  of  course 
happen  to  know  amongst  the  multitude  of  things 


START  IN  LIFE.  11 

with  which  I  am  acquainted,  that  Harry  -Kellar 
came  into  the  world  in  the  way  usually  adopted  by 
ordinary  mortals.  He  was  in  fact  born  in  the  little 
Town  of  Erie,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  scorching  days 
of  the  summer  of  the  year  1849.  Thus  he  was  mani- 
festly too  young  to  be  one  of  the  California  pioneers, 
who  were  by  tradition  bound  to  arrive  in  the  land  of 
El  Dorado  in  the  fall  of  '49,  or  the  spring  of  '50  at 
latest,  but  he  has  all  the  same  picked  up  some  of  the 
stray  nuggets  which  he  found  lying  loose  around  there 
on  the  occasion  of  his  several  visits.  My  master  chose 
this  obscure  town  to  be  born  in  with  set  purpose.  All 
great  men  are  born  in  out-of-the-way  places,  as  no 
doubt  you  have  noticed.  You,  yourself,  who  read 
this  for  instance,  unless,  as  is  not  impossible,  you,  wor- 
shipful sir,  are  a  royal  personage  and  so  born  u  in  the 
purple"  under  palace  roof,  reflect  fame  upon  the  com- 
paratively remote  place  where  you  first  opened  your 
baby  eyes  upon  this  lunatic  world. 

My  master's  father  was  a  sturdy  early  settler  of  Erie. 
In  fact  he  lives  there  yet.  He  was  a  quiet,  honest,  law- 
abiding  creature,  whose  aspirations  for  his  boy  consisted 
in  educating  him  as  well  as  he  knew  how,  and  giving 
him  a  trade.  Fancy,  a  trade  for  such  a  one  as  my  mas- 
ter, a  being  who  would  not  quail  even  in  the  awful  pres- 
ence of  great  Hermes  himself!  The  notion  was  absurd, 
but  the  good  man,  Papa  Kellar,  wasn't  to  be  blamed. 
How  should  he  know  by  instinct  the  mighty  destiny  of 
his  offspring?  So  he  apprenticed' him  to  a  village  com- 
pounder  of  drugs.  Heavens !  what  fun  he  had,  and  what 
a  life  the  druggist  led.  He  didn't  know  the  properties 
of  all  the  drugs  by  intuition,  but  he  soon  learned  them, 
though  it  was  rather  an  expensive  study  in  more  ways 
than  one.  He  found  out  quickly  how  to  compound  one 
of  those  draughts  they  so  commonly  send  us  labelled 
"  hanstus  catharticus,  etc."  and  was  accounted  a  very 
promising  youth.  He  wasn't  satisfied  with  the  dai- 
ly routine  oi'  his  work  at  Dr.  Squills'  drug  store,  but  was 


12  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

forever  making  surreptitious  experiments,  which  occa- 
sionally were  attended  with  serious  results.  For 
instance,  one  day  he  charged  a  copper  vessel  with  soda 
and  sulphuric  acid,  and  the  result  was  a  terrible  explo- 
sion, that  knocked  a  hole  through  the  office  floor  over- 
head, and  very  nearly  sent  one  of  the  proprietors  heaven- 
ward. This  experience,  and  the  sharp  reminder  he  re- 
ceived from  his  employer,  convinced  him  that  the  drug 
business  was  neither  healthful  nor  profitable  to  a  youth 
of  his  bent,  and  he  decided  to  shake  the  dust  of  Erie 
from  off  his  feet.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  dust  in  Erie. 
The  Fates  and  an  accommodating  freight  train  were 
propitious,  and  within  the  next  few  days  Erie  had  lost 
a  druggist's  apprentice,  and  New  York  City  had  gained 
a  newsboy.  Young  Kellar  did  not  long  remain  on  the 
streets  of  New  York,  however.  He  wasn't  of  the  mate- 
rial which  is  content  to  vegetate  even  in  the  Metropolis. 
His  bright  face,  his  energy,  and  his  winning  way  soon 
attracted  the  attention  of  Rev.  Robert  Harcourt,  an 
English  clergyman,  whose  kind  heart  prompted  him  to 
take  a  personal  interest  in  the  little  Arab.  It  was  a 
turning  point  in  young  Kellar's  career.  He  went  with 
the  good  clergyman,  and  was  finally  adopted  by  him, 
and  taken  away  to  Canandaigua,  N.Y.  Mr.  Harcourt 
became  very  much  attached  to  his  young  protege  He 
placed  him  under  the  care  of  a  competent  private  tutor, 
with  the  intention  of  preparing  him  for  the  Church. 
Mr.  Harcourt's  intentions  were  good,  but  his  hopes  were 
not  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  The  youth  had  no  ambition 
to  take  holy  orders.  He  felt  restless  under  the  restraint 
that  was  imposed  upon  him.  He  wanted  liberty,  free- 
dom ;  he  wanted  to  see  the  world.  No  parent  could  have 
been  kinder  to  him  than  was  his  adopted  father,  but  the 
attempt  to  force  his  inclinations  had  the  effect  of  making 
the  career  that  had  been  chosen  for  him  more  distasteful 
than  it  otherwise  would  have  been. 

Young  Kellar  had  seen  an  occasional  sleight-of-hand 
performer,  and  the  wonders  which    these  wandering 


START  IN  LIFE.  13 

illusionists  performed  inspired  him  with  the  desire  to 
go  and  do  likewise.  He  decided  to  become  a  presti- 
digitateur,  if  possible ;  and  when  a  healthy,  hearty, 
clear-headed  boy  comes  to  such  a  determination,  the 
world  is  apt  to  be  the  gainer.  Soon  after  this  he  saw 
an  advertisement  in  a  Buffalo  paper,  to  the  effect  that  the 
Fakir  of  Ava,  a  well-known  conjurer,  wanted  a  boy  to 
travel  with  him,  and  learn  to  be  a  magician.  This  was 
touching  fire  to  light  wood.  Young  Kellar  was  in  a 
blaze  of  excitement  in  a  moment.  He  determined  to 
apply  for  the  place,  and  with  him,  even  then,  to  decide 
was  to  act.  He  at  once  set  out  for  Buffalo,  and  went 
to  the  Fakir's  residence,  a  magnificent  country-seat 
about  two  miles  out  of  the  city.  When  he  entered  the 
yard,  the  Fakir's  little  black-and-tan  dog  jumped  at 
him  in  a  friendly  way,  and  showed  great  delight  at  the 
meeting. 

The  Fakir  soon  appeared,  and  after  he  had  talked 
with  the  boy  for  a  short  time,  said  :  u  I  have  had  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  applications  for  the  place,  but 
that  little  dog  has  shown  great  animosity  to  every  boy 
that  entered  the  gate  until  you  came.  You  are  the 
first  one  he  has  made  friends  with.  I  will  give  you  a 
trial." 

Of  course  there  are  plenty  of  people  who  will  think 
that  all  this  was  mere  chance,  and  the  Fakir  (who,  by 
the  way,  was  not  in  the  least  like  one  of  the  tribe  who 
go  by  that  name  now-a-days,  and  are  to  be  found  by 
the  score  on  Union  Square,  New  York),  would  have 
taken  any  other  nice,  chubby-faced  boy  that  might 
have  happened  to  suit  the  fancy  of  the  black-and-tan 
dog.  You  and  I,  dear  reader,  know  better,  and  are 
quite  aware  that  the  whole  business  was  arranged  by 
that  peculiar  "  Kismet,"  or  supernatural  power,  that 
guides  the  uncertain  footsteps  of  embryo  nineteenth 
century  magicians. 

Anyhow,  in  this  way  my  master  began  his  career, 
as  a  sort  of  acolyte  or  imp  to  that  celebrated  necro- 


14  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

mancer,  known  as  the  Fakir  of  Ava.  To  this  day  he 
cherishes  the  memory  of  that  little  black-and-tan  dog, 
as  that  of  a  very  dear  friend.  In  speaking  of  this 
eventful  period  of  his  life,  Mr.  Kellar  long  afterward 
said  :  "  I  have  never  had  occasion  to  regret  the  step  I 
then  took,  for  the  dear  old  Fakir,  who  is  now  (1886) 
living  in  retirement  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  is,  and  always 
has  been,  one  of  my  best  and  truest  friends.'* 

After  having  traveled  for  several  seasons  with  the 
Fakir,  and  with  him  visiting  nearly  every  part  of  the 
United  States,  my  master  concluded  to  start  out  on 
his  own  account.  He  told  the  Fakir  what  he  intended 
to  do,  and  the  kind  old  man  gave  him  a  good  outfit  of 
apparatus,  at  the  same  time  saying :  "  There  is  no  use 
advising  you  not  to  go  on  the  road,  since  you  are  de-. 
termined  to  do  it.  So  go  forth,  and  may  you  prosper." 
The  neophyte  went  forth,  but  did  not  prosper  to  any 
great  extent  for  some  time. 

He  made  his  first  essays  in  small  towns  in  Michigan, 
barely  earning  money  enough  to  pay  his  expenses. 
He  pluckily  kept  going,  however,  until  he  reached 
South  Bend,  Ind.  There  he  met  a  man  named  Baily, 
who  made  a  proposition  to  act  as  his  manager.  The 
new-found  friend  was  plausible  and  smooth-spoken, 
and  an  agreement  was  speedily  arrived  at.  Baily  took 
charge  of  the  box-office,  and  left  town  between  two 
days,  taking  with  him  the  entire  receipts,  and  leaving 
poor  Kellar  without  money  with  which  to  pay  the  bills. 
The  result  was  that  the  sheriff  attached  all  of  his 
apparatus,  and  left  him  with  nothing  but  the  clothes 
he  wore. 

Our  magician  now  knew  for  the  first  time  what  it 
was  to  be  "  stranded  "  in  a  strange  town.  But  he  was 
not  the  kind  of  a  man  to  give  up.  He  walked  out  of 
South  Bend  in  a  snow  storm,  and  followed  the  railroad 
track  to  a  station  called  Salem  Crossing.  There  he 
boarded  a  freight  train,  and  the  conductor  kindly 
allowed  him  to  ride  free  to  Chicago.  Once  in  the 


16  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Garden  City,  he  proceeded  directly  to  the  Chicago  & 
North-Western  Railway  station,  and  got  on  a  passen- 
ger train  bound  for  Milwaukee,  His  intention  was  to 
"  work  "  the  conductor  for  a  free  ride,  but  that  individ- 
ual was  obdurate,  and  he  put  the  crest-fallen  magician 
off  the  train  at  Rose  Hill,  one  of  Chicago's  burying 
grounds. 

There  was  a  significance  in  this  fact  that  would 
have  had  a  depressing  effect  on  most  people,  but 
Kellar  had  no  intention  of  laying  his  magical  ambition 
in  the  grave  just  then.  He  settled  down  for  a  walk  to 
Waukegan,  and  after  many  weary  hours'  tramp  through 
the  snow,  during  which  he  counted  the  telegraph  poles 
along  the  line,  and  discovered  that  there  were  just 
twenty-seven  to  the  mile,  he  arrived  safely,  but  foot- 
sore and  weary,  at  his  destination.  He  immediately 
called  on  the  proprietor  of  Phoenix  Hall,  and  after 
a  pleasant  chat  with  him,  flattered  his  vanity  by  prais- 
ing the  brilliant  fancy  that  had  led  hintuto  pitch  upon 
the  name  "  Phoenix,"  for  a  place  that  had  been  built 
over  the  ashes  of  another  hall.  The  proprietor  became 
very  gracious,  and  purred  softly  like  a  cat,  when  the 
conjurer  proposed  to  hire  the  hall  for  the  next  two 
nights.  The  old  fellow  did  not  forget  to  mention, 
however,  that  his  rule  was  to  have  the  rent  strictly  in 
advance.  Mr.  Kellar  was  once  more  very  complimen- 
.tary,  and  it  was  finally  agreed  that  the  question  of 
rent  should  stand  over  until  8  o'clock  on  the  evening 
of  the  first  performance.  My  master  was  young  in 
those  days,  and  sanguine,  and  felt  sure  that  by  that 
time  there  would  be  enough  money  in  the  box-office  to 
pay  the  rent.  He  then  went  and  ordered  a  quantity 
of  flaming  hand-bills,  announcing  the  show,  and  there- 
after called  on  the  state  assessor  to  arrange  about  his 
license.  At  that  time,  (1867)  a  United  States  license 
of  $ 20  per  year,  or  a  proportionate  sum  for  a  fractional 
part  of  a  year,  had  to  be  paid  by  every  entertainment 
of  that  kind.  My  master  gave  the  assessor  a  number 


START   IN  LIFE.  17 

of  free  tickets,  and  ascertained  that  the  license  for  the 
portion  of  the  year  still  to  run  would  be  about  $4.  Of 
course  he  Was  Just  as  well  able  to  pay  $4,000.  How- 
ever, he  put  a  bold  face  on  the  matter,  and  asked  the 
functionary  to  make  out  the  receipt.  The  assessor 
was  very  busy  at  the  time,  and  asked  the  magician  to 
call  in  the  afternoon.  This  suited  the  case  exactly. 
My  master  told  the  assessor  that  he  would  be  rushed 
to  death  with  work  up  to  the  very  moment  of  his 
appearance,- and  he  asked  him  to  send  his  collector  to 
the  box-office  on  the  evening  of  the  entertainment.  In 
view  of  the  number  of  free  tickets  he  had  accepted, 
the  assessor  could  not  well  refuse,  and  so  that  matter 
was  settled. 

But  all  was  not  plain  sailing  yet.  Upon  returning 
to  the  printing  office  for  his  hand-bills,  a  bill  for  810 
was  handed  to  him,  with  the  reminder  that  they  al- 
ways received  pay  in  advance.  My  master  told  the 
proprietor  that  he  hadn't  a  cent  in  the  world,  but  that 
he  had  good  prospects,  and  was  honest.  The  Wauke- 
ganer  was  a  little  bit  incredulous,  but  even  at  that  ad- 
vanced age — he  was  at  that  time  only  nineteen — my 
master  could  with  ease  perform  the  curious  feat  known 
as  "  talking  the  hind  leg  off  a  donkey,"  and  so  he  soon 
gained  his  point,  and  the  announcements,  and  started 
out  to  stick  them  up  all  over  the  place  himself.  No 
one  seemed  to  suspect  that  the  smooth-faced  youth 
was  agent,  proprietor,  and  artist  rolled  in  one. 

There  was  at  the  hotel  a  very  persevering  lightning- 
rod  man,  who  was  selling  shares  in  a  new  company 
that  had  been  started  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing 
a  copper-pointed  lightnkig-rod.  The  shares  were  nom- 
inally fifty  dollars  each,  and  he  had  found  quite  a 
number  of  subscribers,  the  most  enthusiastic  of  them 
all  being  the  landlord  of  the  hotel.  This  agent  offered 
four  shares  in  his  concern  for  the  first  night's  receipts, 
saying  that  the  shares  would  soon  be  above  par,  and 
that  there  would  be  a  good  profit  on  the  investment. 


18  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Kellar  said  he  didn't  care  to  sell  out  for  stock  in  this 
company,  although  he  had  no  doubt  it  would  be  a  good 
investment,  but  that  if  the  agent  would  give  him  two 
shares  and  sixty  dollars  in  cash,  he  would  hand  over 
the  first  night's  returns.  To  these  terms  the  lightning- 
rod  man  consented.  About  this  time,  Mr.  Kellar  con- 
sidered a  bird  in  hand  worth  a  million  in  the  bush. 
He  sold  the  two  shares  to  the  landlord  for  fifty  dollars, 
which  sum,  together  with  the  sixty  dollars  in  cash  he 
had  before  received,  made  him  feel  that;  he  was  the 
richest  man  in  the  world.  He  certainly  was  then  one 
of  the  happiest.  He  immediately  called  on  the 
printer  and  paid  his  bill  with  all  the  dignity  of  a  mil- 
lionaire. He  next  went  to  the  assessor's  office  and 
paid  the  license,  and  he  also  paid  the  hall  rent  for  the 
two  nights  in  advance. 

Up  to  this  time  it  had  not  occurred  to  him  how  he 
was  going  to  give  the  entertainment,  his  time  having 
all  been  taken  up  in  arranging  the  business  matters. 
Now  that  everything  looked  bright,  he  prepared  for  the 
performance.  He  procured  some  tin  disks  from  the 
tinsmith  for  the  "  Aerial  Treasury,"  got  a  pack  of 
cards  for  card  tricks,  ordered  two  tin  cups  for  the  coffee 
and  milk  trick,  procured  three  candle  boxes,  and  cov- 
ered them  with  white  paper  so  that  they  looked  quite 
neat,  and  in  place  of  strips  of  blue  and  white  paper 
used  saw-dust,  of  v/hich  there  was  an  abundance  in  the 
hall.  He  arranged  an  ordinary  champagne  bottle  for 
the  bottle  trick,  and  used  a  small  kitten  instead  of  a 
Guinea  pig.  In  this  way  he  managed  to  provide  quite 
an  interesting  entertainment. 

In  one  of  his  tricks  he  borrowed  a  ring*  apparently 
destroying  it.  He  then  produced  an  envelope  ad- 
dressed to  some  prominent  person  in  the  audience,  and 
inside  this  envelope  would  be  found  another  envelope 
addressed  to  some  one  else,  and  so  on  for  ten  or  twelve 
changes,  each  cover,  of  course,  being  smaller  than  the 
one  enclosing  it.  The  very  last  envelope  contained 


THE   BULL  FIGHT.  19 

the  borrowed  ring,  perfectly  restored.  On  this  occa- 
sion, he  had  obtained  the  names  of  several  prominent 
persons,  which  he  wrote  on  the  envelopes  prepared  for 
the  trick.  When  he  asked  to  borrow  a  ring,  a  very 
pretty  little  lady,  with  snapping  black  eyes,  handed 
him  a  small  band  with  a  solitaire  diamond  setting.  He 
made  a  few  remarks  about  some  conjurers  using  cum- 
bersome apparatus,  whereas  he  depended  entirely  on 
the  dexterity  of  his  hands  to  accomplish  his  wonders. 
He  scorned  to  use  apparatus  (for  the  best  reason  in 
the  world,  he  had  none  to  use),  and  calling  a  small  boy 
on  the  stage,  he  gave  him  what  appeared  to  be  the  bor- 
rowed ring.  There  was  no  scenery,  and  at  the  back  of 
the  stage  there  were  three  windows.  Under  these 
windows  flowed  a  stream  of  water.  Mr.  Kellar  told 
the  lad  to  throw  the  ring  out  of  the  window  into  the 
stream.  He  then  produced  the  prepared  envelopes. 
The  first  name  was  called.  A  gentleman  stood  up, 
opened  the  flap,  and  read  the  name  on  the  next  cover, 
and  so  the  package  passed  to  about  ten  different  per- 
sons. Of  course  when  it  came  to  the  last  one,  Mr. 
Kellar  intended  to  say,  "  There  you  will  find  the  bor- 
rowed ring."  Imagine  his  surprise  and  delight,  when, 
on  the  last  name  being  called,  the  little  lady  who  had 
so  kindly  loaned  the  ring,  arose.  He  told  her  to  open 
the  envelope  and  she  would  find  her  ring  within. 
There  was  a  dead  silence  for  a  moment,  and  then  the 
magician  was  greeted  with  rounds  of  loud  and  pro- 
longed applause.  The  lady  belorfged  to  one  of  the  first 
families  of  the  town,  and  it  was  without  pre-arrange- 
rnent  that  she  loaned  her  ring,  and  that  her  name  ap- 
peared on  the  last  envelope.  Mr.  Kellar  didn't  know 
who  the  persons  were  that  were  on  his  list  for  the 
trick.  He  only  knew  that  they  were  in  the  audience, 
as  he  had  requested  the  doorkeeper  to  give  him  the 
names  of  some  of  the  leading  people  in  the  hall,  and  Miss 
W's  appeared  among  the  rest.  It  was  the  best  trick 


20 

he  ever  performed,  and  it  brought  him  a  crowded  house 
for  the  following  night. 

He  had  a  heavy  pocket,  a  light  heart,  and  was  in 
high  spirits  at  the  favorable  turn  his  fortunes  appeared 
to  have  taken.  Of  course  all  this  good  luck  was  to  be 
set  down  to  the  credit  of  the  young  lady  with  black 
eyes.  She  was  his  "  genius  of  the  ring." 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    BULL    FIGHT. 

From  Waukegan,  my  master  went  to  LaCrosse, 
Wisconsin,  where  he  met  the  Davenport  Brothers  & 
Fay.  Spiritual  Mediums.  He  joined  them,  first  as 
assistant,  then  as  agent,  and  afterwards  as  business 
manager.  He  travelled  with  them  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  United  States  (including  California)  and 
Canada,  over  the  Continent  of  Europe,  through  Russia, 
via  Riga,  Moscow,  St.  Petersburg,  Nijni-Novgorod  and 
Odessa;  thence  back  again  to  the  United  States.  In 
the  summer  of  1871,  he  piloted  them  through  Texas. 
They  travelled  all  over  that  State  in  wagons.  There 
was  no  railroad  beyond  Hearne  then,  and  their  route 
was  from  Galveston  to  Houston,  Columbus,  San 
Antonio,  Austin,  Lampasas  Springs,  Dallas,  and  Shreve- 
povt,  and  thence  by  boat  down  the  river  to  New  Or- 
leans. 

From  Lampasas  to  Dallas  the  road  ran  through  a 
very  wild  country,  and  there  had  been  considerable 
trouble  with  the  Comanche  Indians  in  that  section. 
They  had  made  several  raids  on  the  cattle  ranches. 
One  morning  as  my  master  was  quietly  jogging  along 
(two  days  in  advance  of  the  company)  over  a  rolling 
prairie,  he  heard  whooping  and  yelling  behind  him,  as 


THE  BULL  FIGHT.  21 

if  pandemonium  had  broken  loose.  He  turned,  and  to 
his  horror,  saw  three  Indians  riding  toward  him  from 
different  directions.  They  were  coming  on  at  full  tilt, 
and  when  they  saw  him  whipping  his  horse,  they  yelled 
all  the  more.  He  had  no  arms,  and  he  felt  that  the 
chase  would  very  likely  be  a  short  one.  He  expected 
every  moment  to  have  a  bullet  crash  through  his  skull, 
and  lie  was  mentally  picturing  himself  scalped  and  left 
as  food  for  -the  vultures.  Suddenly,  at  the  top  of  a 
rise,  he  saw  a  large  herd  of  cattle,  and  a  number  of 
white  cowboys,  who  took  in  the  situation  at  a  glance. 
They  had  a  hearty  laugh  at  Mr.  Kellar's  expense,  for 
the  Indians  were  also  cowboys,  belonging  to  the  same 
gang,  and  they  had  been  scouring  the  country  in  search 
of  stray  cattle.  He  was  a  long  time  in  getting  over 
his  agitation,  and  his  poor  pony  was  so  injured  in  his 
breathing,  that  he  was  never  good  for  anything  after- 
ward. 

In  the  spring  of  1873,  Prof.  Fay  and  Mr.  Kellar  left 
the  Davenport  Brothers,  and  formed  the  combination 
known  as  "  Fay  &  Kellar."  They  travelled  through 
Canada  that  summer.  In  the  fall  they  took  a  tour 
through  the  Southern  States,  going  through  Florida  to 
Key  West,  where  they  were  "  stranded  "  for  lack  of 
funds.  There  Mr.  Kellar  became  acquainted  with  Cap- 
tain McKay,  the  proprietor  of  a  cattle  steamer  running 
from  Tampa,  via  Key  West,  to  Havana.  He  also  be- 
came intimately  acquainted  with  Capt.  Gushing,  U.  S. 
N.  Captain  McKay  offered  Mr.  Kellar  a  passage  to 
Cuba,  telling  him  that  there  was  a  splendid  opening 
for  him  there,  and  promising  that  if  Mr.  Kellar  could 
make  no  satisfactory  arrangements,  he  would  bring  him 
back  to  Key  West.  Mr.  Kellar  went  with  him,  leaving 
Mr.  Fay  at  Key  West  awaiting  results.  Upon  arriving 
at  Havana,  Mr.  Kellar  called  on  Senor  Albisti,  and 
made  a  contract  with  him  for  a  tour  of  the  entire 
Island  of  Cuba,  to  play  in  the  principal  theaters.  Mr. 
Kellar  sent  for  Fay  and  the  baggage,  and  they  com- 


22  A  MAGICIAN*  S  TOUE. 

menced  operations  at  the  Albisu  Theater,  in  Havana. 
The  Lucca-DeMurska  Opera  Company  were  then  sing- 
ing at  the  Tacon  Theater.  The  Kellar  &  Fay  receipts 
the  first  night  were  over  $3,000.  The  Governor  Gen- 
eral occupied  a  box,  and  paid  for  it  like  a  man  and  a 
soldier,  and  this  doubtless  contributed  much  to  the 
success  of  the  venture. 

At  this  time  my  master  was  not  familiar  with  the 
Spanish  language.  He  knew  German  well,  and  had  a 
fair  knowledge  of  Latin,  but  these  accomplishments  did 
not  help  him  much  among  the  descendants  of  the  Old 
Castilians.  The  usual  way  in  such  cases  is  to  hire  an 
interpreter,  but  the  man  available  for  the  work,  de- 
manded three  hundred  dollars  a  night,  and  in  other 
respects,  seemed  to  imagine  himself  the  principal  fea- 
ture of  the  show.  Then  came  out  that  spirit  of  splendid 
independence,  which  animated  Kellar's  ancestors  at 
Concord  and  Lexington.  He  could  not  brook  the  idea 
of  giving  himself  up  altogether  to  the  mercies  of  an  in- 
terpreter, who  might  not,  improbably,  say  all  sorts  of 
things  that,  to  put  it  mildly,  would  be  directly  contrary 
to  the  facts.  He  determined  to  be  his  own  interpreter. 
Being  always  apt  in  this  regard,  he  had  all  his  speeches 
written  out  in  good  colloquial  Spanish,  and  carefully 
committed  them  to  memory. 

His  knowledge  of  Latin  assisted  him  materially,  in 
at  once  comprehending  what  he  was  talking  about. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  scheme  added  to  the  attrac- 
tiveness of  the  entertainment.  His  Spanish  was  good 
enough  to  make  every  person  in  the  audience  under- 
stand him,  and  it  was  at  times  bad  enough  to  be  very 
funny.  It  was  not  long  before  he  could  speak  the  lan- 
guage fluently.  Thereafter  Mr.  Kellar  always  depend- 
ed upon  himself  to  do  his  own  talking.  Whenever  he 
finds  it  necessary  to  address  an  audience,  with  whose 
language  he  is  unfamiliar,  he  recalls  his  Cuban  expe- 
rience, and  gets  out  of  his  difficulty  in  the  same  way. 
He  now  speaks  with  perfect  ease  North  American, 


24  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

English,  French,  Spanish,  German,  Italian,  Fiji,  Tamil, 
Mahratta,  Arabic,  and  of  course  Pennsylvania  Dutch. 
Besides  these,  he  has  enough  knowledge  of  Scandina- 
vian, to  get  along  with  an  audience  in  Stockholm,  or 
Copenhagen  ;  is  entirely  at  home  with  the  peasants  in 
Brittany,  and  has  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the 
Romaic,  to  enable  him  to  pass  for  a  Romany  Rye. 

While  in  Havana,  Mr.  Kellar  attended  a  bull  fight 
at  the  Plaza  de  Torres.  The  Plaza  is  an  enormous 
circular  building,  or  coliseum,  with  an  immense  ring  in 
the  center,  and  seats  ranged  in  tiers  around  the  sides, 
like  a  circus.  It  was  a  magnificent  afternoon.  The 
sun  shone  brightly;  the  intense  blueness  of  the  sky 
was  flecked  with  fleecy  white  clouds,  and  the  faintest 
suspicion  of  a  breeze  toyed  lightly  with  the  costly  laces 
of  the  dark-eyed  Cuban  beauties.  The  Plaza  was 
crowded  with  the  elite  and  fashion  of  the  city.  It 
was  super-crowded  by  the  throng  of  the  lower  clashes, 
whose  eager  faces  testified  to  their  love  of  the  national 
sport. 

They  had  not  long  to  wait.  Precisely  at  the  hour 
named  for  the  beginning  of  the  sport,  the  Juez,  or 
Judge,  gave  a  signal,  and  a  clamorous  bugle-call 
summoned  the  Torreros.  A  gay  looking  lot  they  were, 
tricked  out  in  their  bright  and  gaudy  costumes.  Some 
were  mounted  on  horse-back,  armed  with  sharply 
pointed  poles  ,  others  were  on  foot,  and  brandished  flags 
and  banderillas. 

They  salute  the  judge  and  audience.  All  retire 
save  the  mounted  picadores.  A  large  gate  is  clumsily 
flung  open.  There  is  an  instant's  pause,  then  dashes 
into  the  ring  an  enormous  Spanish  bull.  Around  the 
Plaza  runs  a  murmur  of  admiring  applause.  What  a 
superbly  magnificent  brute  !  A  tawny  massive  head, 
strong,  sturdy  shoulders,  and  madly  enraged,  wicked 
eyes  !  He  hesitates  a  moment,  then  throws  up  his 
head,  as  if  in  disdain  of  the  gaping  multitude,  and 


THE   BULL  FIGHT.  25 

makes  a  wild  dash  at  one  of  the  horsemen.  The  pica- 
dor quickly  wheels  his  sorry  looking  steed  to  one  side, 
and  receives  the  bull  with  his  pointed  pole.  'Tis  only 
an  insignificant  prick,  scarcely  drawing  the  blood, 
but  it  thoroughly  maddens  the  enraged  animal.  He 
turns  so  rapidly  that  the  picador  has  no  chance  of  es- 
cape. A  savage,  headlong  dash,  and  the  unfortunate 
horse  is  disemboweled,  and  the  rider  thrown  heavily 
to  the  ground.  He  is  evidently  injured,  for  he  makes 
an  awkward  effort  to  arise.  Poor  devil !  He  will 
never  again  flaunt  his  gaily  decked  lance.  A  mad 
rush,  a  low,  shuddering  sound,  a  human  being  is  tossed 
high  in  the  air,  and  the  white  horns  of  the  bull  flash  to 
the  bright  sunshine  the  red  life  blood  of  their  victim. 
The  excitement  is  intense.  The  vast  audience 
has  risen  to  its  feet,  and  as  the  body  of  the  picador 
falls  limply  to  the  ground,  their  pent-up  feelings  find 
a  vent  in  savage  "-Bravo  Torro,"  "Bravo  Torro!" 
("  Well  done,  bull !  "  »  Well  done,  bull !  ") 

The  animal  looks  wonderingly  around,  as  though 
satisfied  with  its  bloody  work.  The  pause  is  taken 
advantage  of.  Man  and  beast,  dead  picador  and  dead 
horse  are  drawn  from  the  ring.  The  ground  is  cleaned. 
The  audience  resume  their  seats,  and  the  sport  pro- 
ceeds. 

A  very  sprightly  looking  youth  now  bounds  lightly 
into  the  ring.  In  his  hands  are  two  sticks,  barb-pointed, 
and  frilled  with  white  paper.  With  a  stick  in  either 
hand,  he  walks  up  directly  in  front  of  the  bull.  The 
animal  gazes  curiously  at  this  new  adversary,  seeming- 
ly at  a  loss  what  to  make  of  him.  But  only  for  an  in- 
stant. The  massive  head  is  lowered,  and  the  animal 
dashes  madly  forward.  The  youth  flinches  not  an 
iota,  and  just  as  one  imagines  that  the  bull  is  upon 
him,  he  steps  nimbly  to  one  side,  and  adroitly,  but  oh ! 
how  'firmly  and  accurately,  implants  his  sticks,  one 
upon  either  shoulder  of  the  animal.  Then  he  sends  a 


26  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

quick  but  graceful  salute  to  the  beauty  and  fashion 
ranged  above  him,  and  runs  for  shelter  behind  one  of 
the  many  safety  shields  that  surround  the  ring. 

Now  comes  the  matador.  He  is  conscious  that  the 
eyes  of  the  city  are  upon  him.  His  head  is  thrown 
high  in  the  air,  his  bearing  is  proud  and  erect,  and  he 
carries  his  sword  with  the  grace  of  a  Roman  gladiator. 
In  his  left  hand  is  a  red  flag.  The  bull  eyes  his  new 
foe  distrustfully.  He  is  no  longer  on  the  aggressive. 
But  the  matador  knows  his  quarry.  He  brandishes  his 
red  flag  across  the  bull's  eyes.  He  gradually  works 
the  animal  into  a  fierce  passion.  It  dashes  at  its  tor- 
mentor. But  the  matador  quickly  steps  aside,  leaving 
the  bull  to  toss  the  flag  high  over  its  horns.  This 
baiting  is  repeated  for  a  few  times.  Then  the  audi- 
ence, wearying  of  such  harmless  sport  yell  loudly, 
"  kill,  kill." 

Now  the  matador  almost  imperceptibly  draws  him- 
self together.  He  approaches  the  bull,  stands  directly 
in  front  of  him,  and  waves  the  tantalizing  red  flag. 
The  bull  hesitates  at  this  new  form  of  attack.  The 
delay  is  fatal.  With  a  sudden  lunge  the  matador 
thrusts  his  unerring  sword  between  the  shoulders  of 
the  animal,  the  blade  passing  through  the  heart  and 
out  on  the  other  side  of  the  body.  The  huge  beast 
falls  on  its  front  legs.  The  massive  head  is  thrown  up 
once  in  a  last  proud  defiance,  then  falls,  and  the 
dark  blood  spurts  in  torrents  from  the  gaping  wound. 
The  crowd  yells  itself  hoarse  with  delight.  And  the 
matador  retires,  the  proudest  man  in  that  vast  con- 
course. 

Four  splendid  mules,  gaily  caparisoned,  with  many 
colored  ribbons  braided  in  their  manes  and  tails,  are 
now  brought  into  the  arena  and  fastened  to  the  dead 
beast.  They  drag  it  once  around  the  course,  and  every 
neck  is  craned  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  torro,  which 
fought  so  hard  for  its  life.  Then,  amid  blowing  of 


TRIUMPHAL  TOUR  THROUGH  MEXICO.  27 

bugles,  the  mules  and  their  load  disappear,  the  ground 
is  cleansed,  room  is  made  for,  and  the  crowd  await,  the 
next  victim. 

Bull  fights  take  place  in   Havana  every  Thursday 
and  Sunday  afternoon. 


THE  PALM  TREE. 


28  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOTJB. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TRIUMPHAL   TOUR   THROUGH    MEXICO. 

After  their  brilliant  success  in  Havana,  Messrs. 
Kellar  &  Fay  made  a  triumphal  tour  through  Cuba,  and 
in  March,  1874,  sailed  for  Mexico,  on  board  the 
Royal  Mail  Steamship  Eider.  Their  first  stopping 
place  was  Vera  Cruz.  It  was  there  my  master  was 
initiated  into  a  new  degree  of  the  ways  not  only  of 
Mexico,  but  of  the  world.  The  theater,  where  their 
entertainment  was  given,  had  a  gallery  with  an  entrance 
away  from  that  which  led  to  the  main  body  of  the 
house.  Of  course  a  magician  can  do  almost  anything, 
but  he  could  not,  as  his  associate  was  not  built  on  the 
plan  of  the  famous  bird  of  Sir  Boyle  Roche,  arrange  to 
take  money  at  two  widely  separated  doors  at  the  same 
time.  The  spirit  was  all  right,  but  the  flesh  was  in  the 
way,  so  a  native  of  good  promise  was  installed  at  the 
gallery  door.  By  actual  count  the  occupants  of  the 
gallery  numbered  261,  but  the  Mexican  door-keeper 
insisted  that  47  only  had  been  admitted,  and  that  was 
all  the  money  he  would  account  for.  Kellar  was  so  net- 
tled, by  being  thus  tricked  by  a  Greaser,  that  he  never 
afterward  would  trust  one  of  them  in  a  similar  position. 
The  Vera  Cruzan's  dishonesty  was  too  monumental  to 
be  relished  even  by  a.  professional  deceiver. 

Vera  Cruz  is  a  delightful  place  to  emigrate  from. 
It  is  a  sleepy  old  Mexican  city,  where,  if  one  were  tired 
of  life,  didn't  mind  mosquitoes,  and  were  content  to 
live  on  frijoles  and  mescal,  and  sleep  one's  days  away, 
existence  might  be  supportable.  To  a  soul  with  a  love 
of  the  beautiful,  there  is  one  thing  in  Vera  Cruz  that 
is  an  eternal  joy,  and  at  which,  like  the  Falls  of  Niagara, 


TRIUMPHAL  TOUR  THROUGH   MEXICO.  29 

the  more  one  gazes  the  more  one  is  enraptured.  This 
is  Orizaba,  mighcy,  magnificent  Orizaba,  whose  grand 
snow-capped  head  can  be  seen  one  hundred  miles  out 
at  sea,  when  approaching  the  city  of  the  True  Cross. 
I  think  there  is  nothing  grander  in  nature  than 
the  tall  crest  of  Orizaba,  bathed  in  roseate  light,  tow- 
ering majestically  above  the  clouds  at  sunrise. 
Benignant  and  beautiful,  it  seems  the  guardian  spirit 
of  the  bright  land  of  the  Montezurnas,  which,  as  a  sen- 
tentious Yankee  once  very  aptly  observed,  "  is  one  of 
the  fairest  spots  on  earth,  only  the  inhabitants  are  so  ob- 
stinate and  lazy  that  they  won't  carry  out  the  intentions 
of  the  Almighty  concerning  it."  I  once  sat  for  hours 
on  the  veranda  of  the  hotel  at  Santa  Anna  in  the  Cafe 
Major,  in  Vera  Cruz,  gazing  at  Orizaba,  with  a  fascina- 
tion that  took  me  far  away  from  my  surroundings.  I 
was  there  when,  for  once  in  its  sleepy  existence,  Vera 
Cruz  woke  up  and  was  for  the  time  absolutely  lively. 
Thirty  thousand  Frenchmen  had  just  landed,  under  the 
command  of  the  now  disgraced  Marshal  Bazaine,  to 
bolster  up,  with  their  bayonets  and  sabres,  the  rather 
insecure  throne  of  Maximilian  of  Hapsburg.  This 
good,  honest,  simple-minded  sailor  had  allowed  him- 
self to  be  persuaded  by  the  Man  of  Destiny,  called 
the  Genius  of  the  Second  Empire,  who,  with 
Baron  Haussman  and  Emile  Rouher,  recreated  Paris, 
into  being  made  a  puppet  Emperor,  over  a  people  who 
would  have  none  of  him,  and  who  soon  afterward 
turned  and  rent  him.  In  the  autumn  of  1862,  Sacrifi- 
cio  Bay  was  alive  with  the  big  fleet  of  transports,  which 
had  carried  Bazaine  and  his  pion  pions  from  France. 
There  were  some  forty  sails  lying  off  the  little  island, 
conspicuous  amongst  them  the  iron  clad  Normandie, 
with  the  flag  of  the  Vice-Admiral,  who  commanded 
the  squadron.  There  also  were  the  old  Massena,  the 
Trouville,  the  Redoutable,  the  Gorner,  and  a  host  of 
others,  whilst  on  the  rocks,  a  mile  or  so  below  the  grim 
Castle  of  San  Juan  d'  Ulloa,  lay  the  remains  of  the 


30  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

sloop  Chaptal,  which  had  been  wrecked  in  a  recent 
"Norther." 

Vera  Cruz  was  gay  with  the  bright  uniforms  of  the 
soldiers  of  France,  whose  bugles  and  tambourines 
resounded  on  the  streets  at  all  hours.  There  were 
grim  Turcos,  alert  Zouaves,  the  dashing  Chasseur  d' 
Afrique,  in  his  tasty  Bleue  de  Ciel  jacket,  trimmed 
with  black  Maltese  lace,  the  farruche  Cuirassiers  of  the 
guard,  and  the  saucy,  quick-tripping  pion-pion.  Skir- 
mishes with  the  guerilla  forces  of  Juarez  were  frequent, 
and  a  few  real  battles  had  been  fought.  The  invading 
force  had  hardly  as  yet,  suffered  a  check  of  any  kind, 
and  so  with  the  usual  elan  of  the  Gallic  race,  were 
in  high  feather.  I,  junior  devil  as  I  was  at  that  time, 
dined  that  night  at  the  "mess"  of  a  regiment  of 
Chasseurs,  and  a  very  good  dinner  we  had  too;  supplies 
were  plentiful.  Under  the  shadow  of  mighty  Orizaba, 
we  discussed  many  a  flask  of  good  Bordeaux  that 
night,  and  as  I  rode  back  to  my  posada,  under  the  sol- 
emn stars,  I  thought  of  the  bitterness  which  the  native 
must  necessarily  feel  at  the  presence  of  this  foreign  in- 
vader in  his  midst.  For  then  it  was  all  in  the  nature 
of  a  big  spree,  a  military  promenade,  which  they  didn't 
even  call  by  any  other  name  than  an  armed  interven- 
tion. That  intervention,  however,  cost  France  dearly 
in  blood  and  treasure,  and  brought  untold  suffering 
to  at  least  one  widow,  whose  mind  has  been  a 
blank  since  the  fatal  day  of  Queretaro.  Poor  Maximil- 
ian !  Poor  Carlotta  !  Truly  the  lot  of  a  monarch  is  not 
always  a  happy  one,  especially  when  he  is  not  of  the 
same  race  as  the  people  over  whom  he  rules.  His 
parsimonious  Highness,  Alfred  of  England,  I  think 
showed  excellent  judgment  when  he  respectfully 
declined  the  proffered  diadem  of  Greece,  and  preferred 
to  take  his  chances  as  prospective  Lord  High  Admiral 
of  England,  and  such  advantage  as  may  accrue  from 
being  brother-in-law  to  a  Czar  of  all  the  Russias. 

From  Vera  Cruz  my  master  proceeded  by  rail  toward 


31 


A   GATE   OF   MANDALAY. 


See  page  80 


32  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

the  City  of  Mexico.  One  of  the  novelties  of  travel  on 
the  railroad  was  the  presence  of  a  car-load  of  soldiers 
on  each  train  for  protection  against  the  hordes  of 
bandits  who  infested  the  country.  There  were  ban- 
dits everywhere,  and  sometimes  not  even  the  presence 
of  troops  was  sufficient  to  save  the  passengers  from 
being  robbed. 

Kellar  went  through  Cordova,  and  Orizaba,  and  by 
a  branch  road  to  Puebla.  In  the  City  of  Mexico  the 
exhibitions  he  gave  caused  a  tumult  of  excitement. 
Many  of  the  Mexicans  were  ignorant;  many  others  who 
were  not  ignorant  were  as  superstitious  as  the  peons. 
It  was  but  natural  that  such  marvels  as  Kellar  perform- 
ed should  effect  both  of  these  classes  profoundly. 
The  popular  agitation  reached  its  height  when  two  of 
the  leading  newspapers  of  the  capital,  UE1  Pajaro  Verde" 
and  "El  Siglo  XIX,"  espoused  the  cause  of  theshriekers 
and  bitterly  denounced  my  master,  warning  the  popu- 
lace against  him,  and  demanding  his  expulsion  from 
the  country.  But  there  was  another  party  in  Mexico, 
as  always  in  any  land  and  with  any  people,  the  party 
of  progress,  of  intelligence,  of  thrift,  and  of  culture. 
While  the  rabble  and  their  newspaper  mouthpieces 
were  shouting  "  He  is  in  league  with  the  devil ;  he 
is  el  mismo  Demonic*,  who  is  permitted  to  walk  the 
earth  for  a  season  ,"  the  better  classes  were  packing 
El  Gran  Teatro  Nacional  to  the  doors  at  every  per- 
formance, So  great  did  the  tumult  become,  so  des- 
perate was  the  frenzy  into  which  the  bigoted  among 
the  people  were  wrought,  that  the  Government  sup- 
plied a  guard  of  one  hundred  soldiers  to  protect  the 
theater  and  the  Magician.  Fortunately  their  ser- 
vices were  not  needed.  Ignorance  is  usually  cow- 
ardly. The  marvels  my  master  wrought  awed  his  ene- 
mies. Not  even  when  drunk  with  pulque  or  aguardiente, 
as  well  as  with  fanaticism,  dared  they  expose  themselves 
to  his  power.  This  dread  stood  him  in  good  service  when 
subsequently  traveling  in  the  provinces. 


TRIUMPHAL  TOUR  THROUGH  MEXICO.  33 

After  leaving  the  City  of  Mexico  his  first  stop  was 
at  Tula,  thence  he  went  to  Queretaro,  where  the  ill- 
fated  Emperor  Maximilian  was  shot.  He  visited  the 
tragic  spot,  of  course  moralized  as  a  good  traveler  should 
over  the  hollowness  of  human  ambition,  and  then  meas- 
urably avenged  the  Austrian  by  mystifying  and  terror- 
izing his  executioners.  As  an  illustration  of  the  law- 
lessness which  then  prevailed  in  many  parts  of  Mexico, 
Kellar  tells  of  a  celebrated  robber  chief  who  had  estab- 
lished himself  on  the  roadside,  within  sight  of  the  City 
of  Queretaro,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  quebrada,  or 
deep  gulch.  So  bold  was  he  that  he  had  put  up  a  sign 
which  read,  in  effect,  "  Whoever  passes  here  with  less 
than  $25  in  his  bolsillo  (pocket)  shall  receive  twenty- 
five  lashes  on  his  bare  back. "  But  it  needed  no  such 
sign  to  tell  Kellar  that  he  was  among  bandits  and  mur- 
derers. 

It  is  a  Mexican  custom  for  each  passer  by  to  throw 
a  stone,  usually  bearing  the  sign  of  the  cross  rudely 
scratched  upon  it,  on  every  place  where  a  person  is 
known  to  have  been  killed.  Throughout  the  entire  coun- 
try my  master  found  these  mute  monuments  of  murder. 
When  traveling  he  often  heard  of  murders  before  him, 
and  murders  behind  him,  and  it  was  by  no  means  a  rare 
occurrence  to  see  a  diligence  driven  into  the  city  when 
not  one  of  the  passengers  had  on  a  stitch  of  clothing 
beyond  what  could  be  improvised  out  of  newspapers. 
They  had  been  robbed  and  stripped  by  knights  of  the 
road,  and  were  fortunate  to  have  lost  only  their  money 
and  their  clothes.  It  may  seem  strange  that  Kellar 
would  deliberately  go  into  such  dangers,  but  remember 
that  Mexican  doubloons  and  dollars  will  buy  comforts 
anywhere,  and  then, 

"If  a  path  is  dangerous  known, 
The  danger's  self  is  lure  alone. " 

There  were  times,  however,  when  despite  his  trusty 
Winchester,  and  his  heavy  navy  revolver,  he  would 
have  been  glad  to  be  in  a  quieter  land. 

3 


34  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK. 

After  leaving  Queretaro,  Kellar  continued  his  jour- 
ney among  the  cities  of  old  Mexico.  The  first  stop 
was  at  Celaya,  and  the  second  at  Guanajuato,  the 
latter  having  a  population  of  about  40,000. 

Whenever  the  Magician  appeared,  he  was  greeted 
witli  crowded  houses,  and  a  tidal  wave  of  excitement 
accompanied  him  wherever  he  went.  At  Leon,  he 
found  a  native  or  half-breed  population  of  about 
100,000,  who,  although  phenomenally  lazy  and  shift- 
less, were  devout  to  the  verge  of  fanaticism.  When  a 
throng  of  devotees  passed  in  the  street,  every  person 
was  expected  to  kneel.  Kellar  always  regarded  the 
prejudices  of  a  people,  and,  of  course,  in  Leon  did  as 
the  Leonians  did.  A  European  traveler,  who  was  in 
the  city  at  that  time,  was  not  so  wise  in  his  generation. 
He  stood  as  the  worshipers  passed  him,  and  a  moment 
later  a  Mestizo  had  given  him  a  fatal  stab  in  the  back. 
Those  who  were  not  familiar  with  the  customs  of  the 
country,  had  no  doubt  that  the  assassin  would  be  pun- 
ished, but  in  this  they  were  mistaken.  The  butcher 
was  held  to  be  justified  for  his  cowardly  deed,  and 
there  was  no  pretense  of  interfering  with  him. 

From  Leon,  Kellar  went  to  Lagos,  and  then,  as 
often  at  other  times  on  the  journey,  his  only  covering 
at  night  was  a  horse-blanket,  for  the  adobe  inclosures 
within  which  they  rested  were  without  roofs,  and  the 
traveler  frequently  thought  himself  lucky  to  find  a  safe 
mud  floor  to  lie  on."  From  Lagos,  my  master  proceeded 
to  Aguas  Calientes,  over  a  road  so  rugged  that  the  dili- 
gence broke  down  at  a  bridge,  and  he  was  delayed  for 
a  week,  while  a  new  conveyance  was  being  procured. 
When  he  finally  reached  the  town,  he  found  the 
theater  with  no  roof  except  a  huge  spread  of  canvas. 
While  his  performance  was  going  on  the  rain  came 
down  in  torrents,  and  the  large  audience  was  driven 
from  the  building. 

On  the  way  from  Aguas  Calientes  to  Zacatecas, 
Kellar  was  a  witness  of  an  occurrence  which  very 


TRIUMPHAL  TOUR  THROUGH  MEXICO.  35 

clearly  shows  why  revolutions  used  to  be  so  frequent 
in  Mexico.  There  was  a  lack  of  patriotism  among  the 
soldiers.  On  this  occasion,  (May,  1874)  the  driver  of 
the  diligence  stopped  when  he  saw  a  commotion  among 
a  large  number  of  soldiers  on  a  rise  of  ground  in  the 
road  some  distance  ahead  of  him.  After  considerable 
time  the  soldiers  all  disappeared,  leaving  only  their 
officers  standing  in  the  highway.  The  diligence  was 
signaled  to  approach,  and  it  was  learned  that  the 
soldiers  formed  a  detachment  of  two  regiments  under 
the  command  of  General  Rocha.  One  of  the  regiments 
was  suspected  of  being  disloyal,  and  it  had  been  dis- 
armed by  the  other.  But  when  the  "loyal  "  soldiers 
found  themselves  in  possession  of  a  double  assortment 
of  arms,  they  proceeded  to  desert  in  a  body.  Some  of 
Kellar's  companions  then  jokingly  said  of  him,  "  He 
puts  soldiers  to  flight."  In  truth,  the  soldiers  didn't 
know  he  was  near,  but  so  great  was  the  sensation  the 
fame  of  the  Magician  had  caused  throughout  this 
region,  that  it  is  more  than  probable  had  he  made 
the  effort,  he  could  have  stampeded  both  regiments. 
Even  braver  men  shrink  from  the  supernatural. 
Kellar  made  a  very  successful  trip  to  Durango.  These 
journeys  consumed  much  time,  and  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation was  so  great,  that  no  attempt  was  made  to 
carry  a  cabinet  from  one  city  to  another.  A  new  cab- 
inet was  built  in  every  town  where  the  magician 
appeared.  It  completely  dumbfounded  the  Mexicans 
to  see  wonders  performed  in  a  cabinet  which  had 
been  built  under  their  very  eyes.  There  could  be  no 
trick  about  such  an  affair. 

From  Zacatecas,  Kellar  proceeded  to  Guadalaj  ira, 
where  he  found  a  magnificent  theater.  Plis  reception 
befitted  the  place — it  was  grand.  Although  many 
years  have  since  elapsed,  the  fame  of  the  Magician  is 
still  preserved  among  the  Mexicans.  During  this  trip 
my  master  had  been  making  a  great  deal  of  money,  and 
although  he  was  as  liberal  as  a  prince,  and  his  neces- 


36 

sary  expenses  were  great,  his  wealth  steadily  .ncreased. 
Of  course  hard  cash  was  a  dangerous  commodity  to 
carry  in  a  land  infested  with  bandits,  consequently 
bills  of  exchange  were  bought  in  one  town  on  the  next 
he  was  to  visit,  and  although  the  rate  of  exchange  was 
from  2i  to  20  per  cent,  between  towns,  it  was  better 
to  be  partly  robbed  by  bankers,  than  to  be  entirely 
stripped  by  knights  of  the  road.  In  Guadalajara,  how- 
ever, bills  of  exchange  could  only  be  purchased  on  the 
City  of  Mexico,  and  that  would  not  do.  Money  could 
only  be  safely  transported  under  Government  escort, 
and  that  Kellar  did  riot  care  to  pay  for.  It  was  an 
audacious  piece  of  business,  but  he  determined  to  risk 
his  savings  in  a  $10,000  trick.  He  had  accumulated 
$10,000  in  golden  doubloons  which  he  had  with  him, 
and  he  decided  to  try  and  get  them  to  the  coast  with- 
out paying  tribute  to  either  Government,  bankers  or 
robbers.  He  had  a  zinc  trunk  in  his  outfit  which, 
among-  much  rubbish,  contained  two  cans  of  black 
asphaltum.  This  was  in  a  court-yard  where  any  one 
could  get  at  it.  It  had  stood  there  most  of  the  time 
he  had  been  in  Guadalajara,  and  every  person  about 
the  premises  was  familiar  with  it.  The  doubloons 
were  secretly  sunk  in  the  varnish,  and  they  were 
so  firmly  held  by  it,  that  they  did  not  make  any 
noise  when  the  trunk  was  moved.  The  trunk  was 
strapped  on  the  back  of  a  mule,  and  this  and  other 
mules,  under  the  charge  of  two  muleteers,  were  started 
for  Manzanillo  two  days  in  advance  of  Kellar's  own 
departure.  It  was  a  slow,  laborious  and  dangerous 
journey  for  my  master,  and  a  whole  day  was  spent  in 
crossing  La  Baranca  (a  break  in  the  Cordilleras).  A 
pleasant  and  profitable  stop  was  made  at  Colima. 
Some  six  hours  after  leaving  that  place,  the  advance  train 
mules  was  overtaken.  The  zinc-trunk  mule  was  miss- 
ing— he  had  strayed.  Kellar  appeared  indifferent,  but 
his  heart  was  in  his  boots.  The  muleteers,  when 
spoken  to,  made  light  of  the  disappearance,  and  de- 


TRIUMPHAL  TOUR  THROUGH  MEXICO.  87 

elared  that  the  mule  would  show  up  in  time.  The 
lock  on  the  zinc  trunk  had  a  chain  connection  on  the 
outside,  which  "  clinked  "  when  the  mule  walked.  Tn 
about  two  hours  Kellar's  quick  ear  caught  the  "  clink." 
It  was  like  the  music  of  angels  to  him.  His  money 
was  safe.  The  mule  had  gone  into  the  chaparral  to 
browse,  and  had  carried  his  golden  treasure  as  uncon- 
cernedly and  as  safely  as  if  he  had  been  loaded  with 
iron  ore. 

The  Magician  ended  his  trip  proper  through  Mexico 
in  1874  at  Manzanillo,  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  still 
had  designs  on  Mazjitlan,  but  he  was  forced  to  wait  two 
weeks  before  the  jerky  little  steamer,  Ancon,  could 
take  him  to  his  new  destination  At  Mazatlan  he  met 
with  marvelous  success,  and  there  was  promise  of  greater 
harvests,  if  he  would  but  continue  his  stay  in  the  land 
of  Montezumas.  The  golden  doubloons  which  awaited 
him  in  the  interior  were  not  attractive  enough,  how- 
ever, to  lure  him  to  any  further  experience  with  saddle 
mules,  diligences  and  bandits. 


RAPID  TRANSIT   IN   MEXICO. 


38  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IN  THE   ROLE    OF   PROPHET. 

The  difficulties  of  transportation  which  my  master 
had  encountered  in  his  trip  through  Mexico  were  many. 
The  entire  journey  from  the  City  of  Mexico  northwest 
to  the  Pacific  coast  was  made  either  on  mule  back  or 
summa  diligentia,  on  the  top  of  a  diligence.  In  either 
case  the  traveler  had  a  rough  time  of  it.  When  in  a 
diligence  he  longed  for  a  mule  ;  when  on  a  mule  he 
longed  for  a  diligence  ;  and  in  his  dreams  he  was  made 
into  animated  powder  by  both.  But  to  the  taste  un- 
trained the  staple  food  of  the  country  was  worse  than 
its  transportation  facilities.  Everywhere,  except  in  the 
large  cities,  it  consisted  of  sandwiches  made  of  tortillas 
and  frijoles.  In  other  words,  pancakes  of  coarse  corn 
meal  and  beans,  for  breakfast,  dinner,  supper,  and  be- 
tween meals.  As  one  ultimately  tires  of  quail  on  toast, 
tortillas  and  fiijoles  would  very  naturally  become  mo- 
notonous, particulary  as  they  are  so  interlarded  with 
Chili  peppers  that  the  victim  at  first  feels  as  if  actually 
eating  fire.  There  are  peppers  and  more  peppers,  but  if 
there  are  any  hotter  than  those  the  Mexicans  eat  so  free- 
ly they  would  be  a  godsend  to  any  country  where  fuel  is 
scarce.  It  takes  some  time  for  even  a"  wizard  to  become 
accustomed  to  that  kind  of  fare,  and  then  he  sighs  for 
the  flesh-pots  of  a  more  temperate  civilization. 

Concerning  the  theaters  of  Mexico,  Kellar  is  enthusi- 
astic. They  are  usually  large,  well-built,  and  hand- 
somely furnished.  Sometimes,  it  is  true,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  one  at  Aguas  Calientes,  the  roof  was  like 
that  immortalized  by  the  Arkansaw  Traveler,  which 
couldn't  be  fixed  when  it  rained,  and  which  needn't  be 


40  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

when  it  didn't  rain  ;  but  ordinarily  they  were  beyond 
criticism.  Why  shouldn't  they  be  ?  The  Government 
built  them,  and  the  people  enjoyed  them.  Paternalism 
might  have  gone  a  step  further  and  made  the  entertain- 
ments free,  but  it  didn't.  To  these,  the  only  open 
sesame  for  the  masses  was  their  own  reals. 

That  Kellar's  impressions  of  and  experiences  in 
Mexico  are  not  peculiar  to  himself  is  evidenced  by  the 
following  extracts  from  an  article  by  Hon.  David  A. 
Wells,  printed  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  for 
April,  1886.  Regarding  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor's  experi- 
ence in  Mexico  in  1850,  Mr.  Wells  writes :  "  It  was  not 
enough  to  have  journeyed,"  as  he  expresses  it,  "  for 
leagues  in  the  burning  sun,  over  scorched  hills,  with- 
out water  or  refreshing  verdure,  suffering  greatly  from 
thirst,  until  1  found  a  little  muddy  water  at  the  bottom 
of  a  hole ;  to  have  lived  on  frijoles  and  tortillas  (the 
latter  so  compounded  with  red  pepper  that,  it  is  said, 
neither  vultures  nor  wolves  ever  touch  a  dead  Mexican) 
and  to  have  found  an  adequate  supply  of  even  these  at 
times  very  difficult  to  obtain  ;  to  sleep  without  shelter 
or  upon  the  dirt  floors  of  adobe  huts,  or  upon  scaffolds 
of  poles,  and  to  have  even  such  scant  luxuries  impaired 
by  the  invasions  of  hogs,  menace  of  ferocious  dogs,  and 
by  other  enemies  '  without  and  within,'  in  the  shape 
of  swarms  of  fleas,  mosquitoes  and  other  vermin  ;  but,  in 
addition  to  all  these  he  was  robbed  and  left  bound  and 
helpless  in  a  lonely  valley,  if  not  with  the  expectation, 
at  least  with  a  feeling  of  complete  indifference,  on  the 
part  of  his  ruffianly  assailants  as  to  whether  he  perished 
by  hunger,  or  cold,  or  effected  a  chance  deliverance." 
And  if  any  one  were  to  travel  to-day  over  the  same 
route  that  Bayard  Taylor  followed,  and  under  the  same 
circumstances  of  personal  exposure,  he  would  undoubt- 
edly subjected  to  a  like  experience. 

In  August,  1878,  Hon.  John  W.  Forster,  then  United 
States  Minister  to  Mexico,  writing  from  the  City 
of  Mexico,  to  the  Manufacturers  Association  of  the 


IN  THE  ROLE  OF  PROPHET.  41 

Northwest  at  Chicago,  made  the  following  statement 
concerning  the  social  condition  of  the  country  at  that 
time  :  "  Not  a  single  passenger  train  leaves  this  city 
(Mexico)  or  Vera  Cruz,  the  (then)  termini  of  the  only 
completed  railroad  in  the  country,  without  being  es- 
corted by  a  company  of  soldiers  to  protect  it  from 
assault  and  robbery.  The  manufacturers  of  this  city, 
who  own  factories  in  the  valley  within  sight  of  it,  in 
sending  out  money  to  pay  the  weekly  wages  of  their 
operatives,  always  accompany  it  with  an  armed  guard, 
and  it  has  repeatedly  occurred  during  the  last  twelve 
months  (1878),  that  the  street  railway-cars  from  this 
city  to  the  suburban  villages  have  been  seized  by  bands 
of  robbers,  and  the  money  of  the  manufacturers  stolen. 
Every  mining  company  which  sends  its  metal  to  this 
city  to  be  coined,  or  shipped  abroad,  always  accompa- 
nies it  by  a  strong  guard  of  picked  men ;  and  the  plant- 
ers and  others  who  send  money  or  valuables  out  of  the 
city  do  likewise.  The  principal  highways  over  which 
the  diligence  lines  pass  are  constantly  patrolled  by  the 
armed  rural  guard,  or  the  Federal  troops;  and  yet 
highway  robbery  is  so  common  that  it  is  rarely  even 
noticed  in  the  newspapers.'7 

Kellar  dined  on  the  4th  of  July,  1874,  with  the 
American  Consul  at  Mazatlan,  but  before  being  ready 
to  leave  the  city  he  was  taken  sick,  and  for  a  month  he 
was  unable  to  travel.  Tortillas,  frijoles  and  Chili  pep- 
pers had  at  length  accomplished  their  dire  mission. 
When  sufficiently  recovered  he  took  a  steamer  for 
Panama,  and  at  that  point  re-embarked  on  the  steamer 
Rimac,  bound  for  Callao,  in  South  America. 

A  magician  should  always  and  everlastingly  be  wide 
awake  in  order  to  amount  to  anything,  and  Kellar  is 
very  much  so.  He  soon  learned  that  the  steamer  would 
stop  at  midnight  that  the  officers  might  take  sound- 
ings. There  was  a  large  number  of  well-to-do  Peru- 
vians and  Chilanos  on  board,  but  they  were  ignorant 
of  how  a  magician  foretells  events,  and  on  this  igno- 


42  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

ranee  my  master  decided  to  play.  He  spoke  Spanish 
like  a  native,  and  he  soon  appeared  among  the  passen- 
gers and  in  words  of  portentous  weight  declared  that 
at  midnight,  sharp,  the  vessel  would  stop  !  Some  of 
the  Spaniards  laughed  him  to  scorn,  while  others  ap- 
peared to  be  impressed  by  his  earnest  manner.  All 
remained  on  watch,  however,  as  if  they  were  seeing  an 
old  year  out,  and  when,  on  the  stroke  of  12  the  engines 
stopped,  consternation  was  pictured  on  many  a  face, 
and  every  passenger  on  the  steamship  believed  they 
had  a  veritable  wonder-worker  and  prophet  among 
them.  At  this  distance  and  to  American  readers,  this 
may  seem  like  a  small  event  to  cause  a  sensation  among 
intelligent  people ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
probably  not  one  of  them  had  ever  seen  a  magician 
with  one  half  of  Kellar's  ability.  It  was  instantly 
noised  about  the  ship  that  this  was  the  man  whose 
marvelous  acts  had  made  him  a  sulphurous  hero 
in  Mexico.  During  the  remainder  of  the  trip  he  was 
an  object  of  awe  to  the  passengers,  and  when  they 
landed  at  Callao,  his  fame  was  at  once  spread  through- 
out the  city.  It  was  a  rare  stroke  of  business  on  the 
conjurer's  part.  The  people  of  Callao  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  were  soon  talking  about  him  with 
much  interest  as  if  he  had  been  a  new  President. 


THROUGH  SOUTH  AMERICA.  43 


CHAPTER  V. 

THROUGH  SOUTH  AMERICA. 

It  was  late  in  the  summer  of  1874  that  Kellar  began 
his  memorable  South  American  trip.  The  best  classes 
in  Callao,  just  as  everywhere  else,  thronged  to  his  en- 
tertainments, and  all  were  dumbfounded  by  his  more 
ambitious  efforts  to  mystify.  The  Cabinet  business 
never  failed  to  make  a  profound  sensation,  as  well,  in- 
deed, it  might.  Wandering  "mediums"  had  given 
some  weak  seances  which  were  thought  remarkable  by 
many,  even  as  the  work  of  spirits,  but  here  was  a  man 
who,  by  human  agency,  did  what  no  medium  ever 
dreamed  of  attempting. 

While  Kellar  was  in  Lima  on  this  trip  he 
enjoyed  the  sensation  of  being  shot  at  by  soldiers. 
Revolutions  are  about  as  frequent  as  earthquakes  in 
many  parts  of  South  America,  and  earthquakes  are  as 
common  as  thunder  showers  in  the  United  States  in 
summer.  While  my  master  was  in  the  great  plaza  of 
Lima  before  the  palace,  one  day  the  President  of  Peru 
appeared  with  his  military  guard.  A  soldier  of  the 
guard,  who  was  a  tool  of  an  insurrectionary  league, 
fired  at  the  President,  and  then  effected  his  escape. 
The  populace  that  thronged  the  plaza  was  used  to  this 
kind  of  thing,  and  everybody  rushed  to  the  shelter  of 
the  heavy  columns  which  supported  the  fronts  of  the 
building  facing  the  square,  and  formed  a  sort  of  arcade. 
They  had  scarcely  reached  the  friendly  cover  when  the 
guard  fired  a  volley  after  them,  chipping  pieces  of  plas- 
ter and  stone  from  the  buildings,  and  sprinkling  the 
ground  with  flattened  bullets.  No  one  was  hurt  so  far 


44  A  MAGICIAN'S 

as   Kellar   saw,  but  it  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  be 
made  a  target  even  by  Peruvian  soldiers. 

Daring  a  performance  at  the  leading  theater  in  Lima, 
my  master  had  a  costly  experience.  He  found  himself 
in  the  hands  of  the  law,  without  suspecting  that  he 
was  an  offender.  Every  country  has  its  customs,  and 
in  lands  where  revolutions  are  frequent  and  the  amount 
of  cash  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  limited,  one 
of  those  customs  is  likely  to  squint  toward  contributions 
to  the  exchequer.  It  was  into  that  trap  that  Kellar 
walked.  His  performance  had  progressed  swimmingly 
to  the  Dark  Seance,  and  while  that  was  in  progress, 
some  one  in  the  gallery  struck  a  light.  Kellar  always 
insists  that  there  shall  be  no  interference  of  this  kind, 
so  he  stepped  to  the  front  of  the  stage  and  addressing 
the  audience  said  that  the  striking  of  a  light  would  not 
be  permitted.  A  few  minutes  later  he  was  arrested  by 
soldiers,  one  hundred  of  whom  had  rushed  on  the 
stage.  He  was  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  Mayor's  office 
for  twenty-four  hours  and  fined  a  hundred  sols  (dol- 
lars), and  the  receipts  of  the  box-office  (about  $1500) 
were  confiscated.  His  offense  was  that  he  had  spoken 
to  the  audience  without  asking  the  permission  of  the 
Juez,  or  Judge  of  the  theater,  who  occupied  a  private 
box  in  the  center  of  the  auditorium.  This  was  getting 
knowledge  at  a  great  cost,  but  one  beauty  of  such  a 
lesson  is  that  it  is  never  forgotten.  This  custom  pre- 
vailed everywhere  in  South  America  except  in  Brazil. 
The  proper  way  to  recognize  it  was  to  conveniently 
slip  a  few  sols  into  the  Judge's  hand  ;  then,  when  the 
audience  was  to  be  spoken  to,  smile  and  say :  "  By 
kind  permission  of  the  Juez"  etc.,  and  the  sweetness 
of  the  answering  smile  would  load  the  air  like  the 
breath  of  the  flowers  that  bloom  in  the  spring.  My 
master  is  one  of  those  apt  creatures  upon  whom  it  isn't 
necessary  that  a  house  should  fall  in  order  to  wake 
them  up,  and  after  this  he  became  just  as  alert  in  ad- 
ministering the  necessary  sauce  to  a  Juez  as  in  tipping 


THROUGH   SOUTH  AMERICA.  45 

a  waiter.  He  was  never  fined  again — in  South  Amer- 
ica. 

At  Lima  Kellar  was  invited  by  Superintendent 
Ciley,  of  the  Oroya  Railroad  Company,  to  take 
a  trip  over  that  road.  Probably  no  railroad  in  the 
world  was  ever  built  in  the  face  of  greater  natural  ob- 
stacles. This  is  the  railroad  the  construction  of  which 
made  Harry  Meiggs  so  famous  and  rich.  It  required 
not  only  great  engineering  skill  but  the  expenditure  of 
a  vast  amount  of  money  to  complete  the  work,  and  the 
loss  of  human  life  was  appalling.  But  human  life  is 
not  valued  very  highly  in  that  country.  Men  are 
easier  to  get  than  money.  The  engine  on  which  Kel- 
lar took  his  trip  was  named  La  Favorita,  and  on  the 
journey  he  stood  on  the  famous  Verugas  bridge,  which 
is  believed  to  be  the  highest  trestle  bridge  in  the  world. 
The  creek  which  gives  its  name  to  the  bridge  is  dread- 
ed by  every  person  who  is  ever  required  to  work  in  its 
waters.  No  matter  who  it  may  be,  mayordomo  or 
peon,  if  he  is  long  in  the  water  of  Verugas  Creek  he 
will  be  covered  with  bleeding  warts.  Another  notable 
point  on  this  picturesque  road  is  La  Cima  Tunnel, 
15,640  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Think  of  it! 
A  mountain  pierced  for  the  passage  of  a  railroad  over 
three  miles  above  tidewater!  People  who  live  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States  can  have  no  clear 
idea  of  such  tremendous  heights. 

Returning  to  Callao,  Kellar  proceeded  by  steamer 
to  Islay,  landing  by  means  of  a  surf-boat.  Continuing 
his  journey  he  went  to  Arequipa,  and  visited  Lake  Titi- 
caca,  the  highest  body  of  water  on  the  globe.  Thence 
he  traveled  to  Cuzco,  the  ancient  city  of  the  Incas,  and 
then  to  Mollendo,  and  afterward  to  Arica.  At  all  of 
these  places  he  gave  entertainments,  and  in  every  in- 
stance he  was  greeted  by  large  and  enthusiastic  audi- 
ences. The  better  classes  of  people  crowded  to  see  the 
wonders  he  performed,  and  wherever  he  went  the  fame 
of  his  achievements  penetrated  to  every  class  in  society. 


46  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

The  marvels  of  the  Cabinet,  the  Dark  Seance,  and  the 
skill  which  he  showed  as  a  prestidigitateur  completely 
won  the  favor  of  the  people.  It  was  a  triumphal  pro- 
gress. Nothing  was  too  good  for  him.  He  was  the 
idol  of  the  hour,  and  more  than  that,  for  to  this  day 
the  story  of  what  he  did  is  told  among  the  South  Amer- 
icans, with  the  embellishments  that  tradition  usually 
gives  to  facts. 

At  Arica,  Kellar  saw  the  United  States  steamship 
Wateree  two  miles  inland  from  the  ocean,  where  she 
was  carried,  by  a  tidal  wave.  The  vessel  then  stood 
up  as  if  ready  to  be  launched,  her  iron  hull  apparently 
uninjured,  and  the  skeleton  of  her  paddle-wheels  stand- 
ing out  like  the  frame-work  an  extinct  monster.  But 
there  wasn't  a  splinter  of  wood  to  be  found  on  her ; 
relic  hunters  had  dug  it  all  out.  Those  tidal  waves 
are  bad  neighbors.  But  while  they  hurled  the  big 
ship  of  war  into  the  interior  of  Peru,  they  were  tender 
with  our  conjurer,  who  was  "rocked  in  the  cradle  of 
the  deep  "  very  gently,  after  the  manner  of  the  Pacific. 

From  Arica,  Kellar  next  went  to  Tacna,  and 
again  received  a  royal  welcome.  He  relates  that 
having  accepted  an  invitation  of  a  Spanish  gentlemen 
to  visit  him  at  his  hacienda  and  take  dinner,  he  was 
treated  to  one  of  the  dishes  peculiar  to  that  country. 
Nearly  everybody  knows  that  the  Guinea  pig  is  a  na- 
tive of  South  America,  but  few  know  that  it  is  .good  to 
eat.  Now  my  master  has  a  tenderness  for  Guinea  pigs. 
Any  one  can  tell  that  by  the  way  he  hauls  one  out  of 
a  bottle  at  every  performance.  He  handles  this  little 
rodent  as  Izaak  Walton  strung  a  worm  on  a  hook — as 
if  he  loved  it.  And  he  does  love  it,  but  in  1874,  he 
loved  it  alive,  and  would  not  have  thought  of  deliber- 
ately eating  one.  But  that  was  before  his  visit  to 
Tacna.  Now  he  wonders  why  Guinea  pig  is  not  a 
common  item  on  dainty  bills  of  fare.  His  Spanish 
friend  at  the  hacienda  had  Guinea  pig  for  dinner.  The 
magician,  enjoyed  the  delicate  meat  without  knowing 


48  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

what  it  was,  and  marveled  much  at  the  sweetness  and 
tenderness,  the  juicy  excellence  and  delightful  flavor 
of  the  dish.  It  was  rabbit  and  reed  birds  combined ;  it 
was  fine  of  grain,  firm  of  texture  and  as  seductive  as 
terrapin  at  $36  a  dozen  (to  the  man  who  doesn't  pay 
the  bill).  In  fact  it  was  almost  too  good  to  be  true, 
and  the  American  Merlin  hoped  it  wasn't  true  when 
his  host  said  'twas  Guinea  pig.  But  it  really  was  the  little 
spotted  thing  that  every  school  boy  has  thought  to  lift 
by  the  tail  that  he  might  see  its  eyes  drop  out. 

From  Tacna  the  magician  proceeded  to  La  Paz,  and 
then  to  Iquique.  In  that  part  of  Peru  it  never  rains, 
and  the  water  the  people  use  is  either  got  by  distilla- 
tion or  by  bringing  it  to  the  city  in  boats  from  moro 
favored  localities.  An  exciting  incident  of  the  visit  to 
Iquique  was  the  setting  of  the  theater  on  fire  by  incen- 
diaries. It  occurred  just  after  a  performance,  conse- 
quently there  was  no  loss  of  life,  but  in  spite  of  all  the 
sand  the  people  could  throw  on  the  burning  structure 
it  was  reduced  to  ashes  ;  the  stage  alone  was  uninjured. 
The  fire  stopped  at  the  very  point  where,  had  it  pro- 
ceeded further,  the  magician's  apparatus  would  have 
been  burned.  This  fact  made  even  a  greater  sensation 
than  the  fire  itself,  and  my  master  was  said  to  be  pro- 
tected by  demons.  Some  of  the  more  intelligent  citi- 
zens only  made  such  remarks  in  jest,  but  the  mass  of 
the  people  actually  believed  that  he  was  under  the  es- 
pecial protection  of  the  devil.  This  belief  was  further 
strengthened  when  the  Magician,  after  visiting  Antafa- 
gosta,  the  only  sea-port  in  Bolivia,  proceeded  on  the 
steamer  Atacama,  Captain  Harris,  for  Caldera  ;  they 
had  not  gone  far  before  the  vessel  was  suddenly  struck 
so  severely  from  below  that  she  was  nearly  turned  on 
her  beam  ends.  The  superstitious  among  the  passen- 
gers believed  that  my  master  was  the  cause  of  the 
trouble,  but  in  reality  it  was  a  seaquake  that  frightened 
them.  Such  occurrences  are  not  infrequent  in  that 
latitude  ;  they  often  result  in  the  terrible  tidal  waves 


THROUGH   SOUTH   AMERICA.  49 

that  do  so  much  damage  to  shipping  and  property 
along  the  coast. 

After  visiting  Copiapo  by  rail,  Kellar  returned  to 
Calderaand  then  proceeded  to  Coquimbo  and  to  Ovalle. 
His  next  step  was  at  Santiago,  and  there  he  won  the 
good  will  of  the  Intendente,  Don  Benjamin  Vicuna 
McKenna,  who  was  afterward  President  of  the  Repub- 
lic, by  giving  a  performance  in  a  theater  on  Santa 
Lucia  Hill,  which  was  a  part  of  his  plan  of  beautifying 
and  embellishing  the  city.  The  Teatro  Nacional  was 
occupied  by  an  opera  company,  so  Kellar  gave  one 
performance  afterward  in  a  small  theater  in  Santiago, 
and  it  caused  such  a  sensation  that  the  town  fairly 
went  wild.  A  demand  was  then  made  by  "  El  Ferro 
Carril"  (The  Railroad),  a  leading  newspaper  of  the 
place,  that  Kellar  should  have  the  Teatro  Nacional,  and 
be  permitted  to  charge  extra  prices,  and  so  great  a  cla- 
mor was  made  by  the  public  that  the  opera  company  was 
ousted.  With  every  performance  the  furor  increased. 
My  master  was  treated  like  a  prince.  The  Intendente 
invited  him  to  a  dinner  where  preserved  rose-leaves 
were  part  of  the  bill  of  fare,  and  all  the  best  citizens 
delighted  to  honor  him. 

Kellar  next  went  to  Valparaiso,  where  he  found  that 
Salvini  had  followed  Ristori.  The  great  tragedian  was 
appearing  in  "  La  Morte  Civil "  to  empty  benches. 
Kellar  was  idle  at  Valparaiso  for  two  weeks,  be- 
cause the  theater  was  engaged  by  McDonough's  Black 
Crook  Company.  At  this  time  an  event  occurred 
which  well  showed  the  hot  blood  and  mercurial  dispo- 
sition of  the  people.  A  lady  member  of  the  company 
was  discharged,  and  .this  offended  a  large  party  of  her 
friends.  Leona  Dare  was  with  the  company,  and  one 
night  soon  afterward,  while  she  was  descending  from 
the  trapeze  on  a  rope  which  was  coiled  around  her  leg,  an 
admirer  in  the  audience  arose  and  shouted  "  Leona,  yo 
te  amo"  (Leona,  I  love  thee).  This  was  accepted  as  a 
challenge  by  the  other  party,  and  a  bloody  fight  began. 

4 


50  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Two  of  the  soldiers  who  were  called  in  were  stabbed. 
The  guilty  young  bloods  were  arrested  and  taken  to 
prison,  but  a  mob  of  their  chums  so  intimidated  the 
Intendente  that  he  released  the  culprits. 

Kellar's  season  at  Valparaiso  was  not  very  success- 
ful. It  was  the  only  cit}^  in  which  he  did  not  add  to 
his  store  during  his  South  American  trip  of  1874-75. 
The  fault  was  in  the  theater,  the  Teatro  Victoria. 
When  the  theater  was  built  a  great  number  of  share- 
holders were  concerned  in  the  enterprise,  and  two  en- 
tire rows  of  the  best  private  boxes  in  the  house  were 
reserved  for  them  (the  best  part  of  the  house  is  por- 
tioned off  into  private  boxes),  after  the  manner  of  the 
Academy  of  Music  in  Philadelphia  and  some  other 
theaters  here  at  home.  Any  entertainment  given  in 
the  theater  was  expected  to  shoulder  this  deadhead 
giant.  It  was  financial  suicide  to  do  it,  and  it  was  very 
risky  not  to  do  it.  Kellar  preferred  to  be  independent, 
and  get  along  as  best  he  could  without  the  stockhold- 
ers' assistance.  The\r  interfered  with  his  success,  but 
they  could  not  affect  his  standing  with  the  people. 
(The  Teatro  Victoria  has  since  been  burned.) 

After  visiting  Talcahuano  and  Concepcion,  he  went 
by  rail  to  Chilian,  and  then  by  coach  to  Talca.  There 
he  had  a  startling  experience  fighting  fire.  The  thea- 
ter in  Talca  had  no  gas-fixtures,  and  to  light  the  place 
recourse  was  had  to  oil  *amps.  Those  used  to  light 
the  stage  were  placed  on  brackets,  one  above  the  other, 
on  each  side  in  the  wings.  Another  primitive  arrange- 
ment was  the  mechanism  which  managed  the  curtain. 
There  was  no  windlass,  and  a  number  of  Cholas,  or 
native  Indians  were  secured,  who  lifted  the  curtain  by 
taking  hold  of  its  upper  end,  and  using  themselves  as 
counterweights.  This  worked  well  enough,  until  one 
of  the  Cholas  upset  a  lamp,  and  set  the  theater  on  fire. 
A  panic  ensued,  but  Kellar,  springing  to  the  front  of 
the  stage,  quieted  the  audience  by  a  word,  ordered 
those  in  the  rear  to  go  out  first,  and  then,  stripping  off 


AROUND   THE   HORN.  51 

his  dresscoat,  used  it  in  assisting  to  extinguish  the  fire. 
The  audience  filed  out  quietly,  waited  outside  until 
the  fire  was  put  out,  came  back  on  their  checks  (which 
are  always  retained  by  a  South  American  audience) 
and  cheered  the  Magician  wildly  when  he  resumed  the 
performance.  Kellar  received  great  praise  for  his  cool- 
ness and  presence  of  mind.  He  was  himself  surprised 
at  the  promptness  with  which  the  audience  obeyed  his 
orders.  It  was  probably  because  of  their  habits  of  life. 
In  matters  of  moment  they  are  trained  to  trust  to  the 
direction  of  superior  minds. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AROUND   THE   HORN. 

On  the  third  of  February,  1875,  Kellar,  having  re- 
turned to  Valparaiso,  embarked  on  the  steamer  Bri- 
tannia for  Monte  Video,  via  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  The 
vessel  stopped  at  Punta  Arenas  for  coal,  and  there 
were  seen  a  large  number  of  natives  from  Tierra  del 
Fuego  and  Patagonia.  Punta  Arenas  is  situated  al- 
most at  the  extreme  southern  tip  of  South  America, 
and  is  used  by  the  Chilian  Government  for  a  penal 
colony.  The  commanding  officer  received  the  Magi- 
cian with  great  consideration,  for  his  fame  had  pene- 
trated even  to  that  remote  point.  The  commandant 
was  particularly  anxious  to  impress  the  natives  with 
the  power  of  civilized  man,  and  he  induced  Kellar  to 
try  his  arts  on  the  half-naked  savages.  My  master  at 
once  proceeded  to  harangue  the  natives  by  means  of 
an  interpreter,  and  when  a  large  number  had  gathered 
close  around  them,  he  surprised  and  startled  them  by 
a  variety  of  sleight-of-hand  tricks ;  then,  assuming  a 
fierce  look,  he  told  them  he  could  burn  the  earth,  if  he 
so  desired,  and  to  prove  it  he  would  set  the  ground  on 


52  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK. 

fire.  Now,  the  land  of  Punta  Arenas  is  covered  to  a 
considerable  depth  with  white  sand.  While  Kellar 
had  been  mystifying  the  natives,  his  assistant  had 
mixed  some  chlorate  of  potash  and  white  sugar  in 
equal  parts,  and  filled  a  deep  hole  in  the  sand  with  it, 
without  attracting  attention.  When  all  was  ready, 
Kellar  secretly  produced  a  small  bottle  of  sulphuric 
acid,  and  dipping  the  end  of  his  wand  in  the  liquid, 
waved  it  about  his  head  and  shouting,  "  Burn,  O 
Earth  !  "  thrust  the  dampened  end  of  the  stick  into  the 
mixture  in  the  sand.  Instantly  a  column  of  flame, 
white  and  dazzling,  shot  into  the  air,  and  with  screams 
of  dismay,  the  natives  broke  for  the  hills.  Not  one  of 
them  stopped  until  completely  out  of  sight,  and 
they  could  not  be  induced  by  any  means  to  return. 
It  is  not  often  that  so  simple  a  chemical  experiment 
produces  such  marked  results. 

My  master  landed  in  Monte  Video  on  the  17th  of 
February,  1875.  There  had  been  a  change  of  Govern- 
ment just  previously,  and  the  new  President,  thinking 
that  the  best  way  to  silence  his  newspaper  opponents 
was  to  get  rid  of  them,  invited  them  to  his  house,  had 
them  all  arrested  and  taken  on  board  of  a  condemned 
brig  then  lying  in  the  harbor.  The  name  of  this  vessel 
was  the  Puig,  and  she  was  sent  to  sea  with  sealed 
orders,  and  with  the  newspaper  men  securely  fastened 
below  decks.  What  became  of  these  men  no  one  ever 
knew.  An  effort  was  made  to  land  them  in  Brazil, 
but  the  authorities  would  not  permit  it.  There  was  a 
story  to  the  effect  that  they  were  finally  put  ashore  in 
Cuba,  but  more  probably  they  went  to  watery  graves. 
Our  entertainments  were  given  at  the  Teatro  Solis, 
and  caused  a  sensation.  There  was  at  Monte 
Video  a  Barcelona  conjurer  who  called  himself  Pro- 
fessor Jam,  but  by  the  newspapers  he  was  dubbed  in 
derision  "  prestidigitador  Barceloens."  He  was  very 
jealous  of  my  master,  and  wanted  to  tie  him  in  the 
cabinet  trick.  Of  course  my  master  had  no  objection 


AROUND  THE  HORN.  53 

to  being  tied  by  a  conjurer,  provided  his  rival  risked 
something  on  the  issue.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  the 
wager  should  be  82,000  a  side,  the  money  of  the  loser 
to  go  to  certain  deserving  charities.  There  was  a  tre- 
mendous audience  when  the  test  was  made.  Jam 
brought  a  small,  hard  rope,  privately  marked.  He 
tied  the  American  with  fiendish  care  and  severity,  but 
in  fifteen  seconds  the  latter  was  free.  The  discomfited 
Jam  slunk  out  of  the  house,  and  refused  to  pay  a  cent 
ot  his  wager,  Kellar  having,  with  the  confidence  born 
of  his  own  honesty,  neglected  to  see  that  the  money 
was  put  up.  Soon  afterward  a  young  man,  who 
claimed  to  be  a  professional,  applied  to  my  master  for 
food  and  assistance.  My  master  gave  him  breakfast, 
$40  to  pay  his  arrearages  of  board,  and  $8  for  his  pas- 
sage to  Buenos  Ayres.  At  our  first  entertainment  in 
that  city,  this  thankless  beggar  came  on  the  stage  with 
Jam  to  do  the  tying.  My  master  refused  to  submit  to 
them  unless  money  was  put  up  on  the  result.  Jam 
blustered,  whereupon  Kellar  told  the  story  of  his  ex- 
perience with  these  men  in  Monte  Video,  and  the 
audience  hustled  them  out  of  the  building.  Jam  was 
then,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  "jam  satis." 

From  Buenos  Ayres  Kellar  proceeded  to  Rosario 
by  steamer.  His  next  stopping  place  was  Cordova, 
where  he  was  not  allowed  to  give  his  performance  on 
account  of  the  religious  prejudice  of  the  people.  It 
was  maintained  that  he  had  dealings  with  the  devil, 
and  that  those  who  patronized  him  would  do  so  at  the 
peril  of  their  souls.  A  number  of  the  gauchos,  or  na- 
tive horsemen  of  the  Pampas,  were  not  so  superstitious. 
When  the  magician  announced  that  he  would  do  some 
of  the  rope-tying  and  cabinet  business  at  the  hotel 
they  crowded  around,  and  when  they  saw  what  he  did 
they  were  dumbfounded.  Our  next  stay  was  at  Rio 
Grand  de  Sul.  From  there  we  went  to  Santos  by 
steamer,  and  to  San  Paulo  over  the  famous  cable  road 
up  the  mountain.  My  master  then  proceeded  to  the 


54  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

coffee  district  of  Campinas,  gifejtig  an  (  xhibition  before 
the  thrifty  coffee  planters  of  thu^  secnon,  and  after- 
ward went  to  Rio  Janeiro,  where  he  was  patronized 
by  the  dear  old  Kmperor,  that  enlightened  Potentate, 
who  is  the  friend  of  all  progress,  and  so  good  a  ruler  as 
to  almost  make  an  American  feel  inclined  toward  a 
monarchy.  At  Rio,  speculators  sold  the  tickets  for  the 
entertainments  at  four  and  five  times  the  regular  price, 
and  still  there  was  a  struggle  for  seats.  Nothing  like 
it  had  been  known  in  the  amusement  annals  of  the  city. 
Here  my  master  was  attacked  by  the  yellow- fever, 
and  for  a  time  was  in  a  very  dangerous  condition,  but 
he  soon  recovered  and  went  to  Pernambuco,  and  thence 
to  Bahia.  At  the  latter  place  there  was  some  trouble 
in  getting  the  theater.  The  Government  furnishes 
the  theater  free  of  charge,  and  it  is  a  rule  that  any 
company  occupying  it  must  give  certain  nights  in. the 
week  to  any  other  company  visiting  the  place.  The 
theatrical  company  that  was  on  tho  ground  when  we 
arrived  sought  to  prejudice  the  people  against  us.  We 
drew  a  big  house,  but  during  the  Dark  Seance  a  clique 
in  the  audience  threw  large  stones  on  the  stage,  smash- 
ing the  doors  of  the  cabinet,  and  putting  my  master  in 
great  bodily  peril.  There  were  no  more  dark  seances 
at  Bahia.  Our  engagement  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  was  won- 
derfully successful  in  every  way,  and  it  was  with  real 
regret  that  on  the  27th  of  July,  1875,  we  sailed  in  tho 
royal  mail  steamship  Boyne  for  England,  and  bade 
adieu  to  our  many  kind  friends  in  Rio.  The  tour  of 
South  America  had  been  in  all  respects  satisfactory. 
My  master  had  made  many  valued  acquaintances,  he 
had  been  welcomed^  with  enthusiasm,  and  patronized 
with  liberality  at  almost  every  stopping  place,  and 
while  gaining  doubloons  he  had  also  been  gaining 
reputation.  This  was  enough  to  cheer  any  man,  and 
as  he  saw  the  shores  of  Brazil  disappear  below  the 
horizon  he  felt  almost  as  if  leaving  his  native  land. 


I 


56  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SHIPWRECK  AND   REVERSES. 

At  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  the  steamer  stopped  for 
coal,  and  we  amused  ourselves  by  throwing  small  coins 
into  the  deep,  clear  water,  and  admiring  the  skill  with 
which  the  native  boys  would  dive  below  the  sinking 
bits  of  metal  and  let  them-  drop  into  their  hands.  For 
a  pittance  the  boys  would  dive  entirely  under  the 
steamer.  The  next  stop  made  by  the  steamer  was  at 
Lisbon,  and  here  United  States  Minister  Benjamin 
Moran  came  on  board  to  proceed  to  London.  As  soon 
as  my  master  met  Mr.  Moran,  the  latter  warned  the 
Magician  that  the  trip  was  likely  to  end  in  a  shipwreck. 
Kellar  laughed  incredulously,  but  Mr.  Moran  con- 
tinued very  seriously,  saying:  "I  have  never  been  on 
board  of  a  steamer  yet  without  an  accident  of  some  kind 
occurring.  It  seems  to  be  my  fate.  So  now  don't  be 
surprised  if  something  serious  takes  place."  In  a  fog, 
two  days  later,  on  the  13th  of  August,  the  steamer  ran 
into  the  Ushant  Rocks,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and 
Mr.  Moran's  gloomy  forebodings  were  realized.  The 
steamer  was  a  total  wreck,  and  the  passengers  lost 
everything  except  their  lives.  Two  of  the  crew  were 
drowned.  The  rest  reached  the  Island  of  Moleno, 
from  which  they  were  rescued  by  a  French  man-of-war 
and  taken  to  Brest,  whence  they  were  forwarded  to 
their  several  destinations.  The  French  Government 
treated  .us  very  kindly,  paid  all  our  expenses,  and  in 
every  respect  behaved  in  such  a  way  as  to  strengthen 
the  entente  cordiale  that  has  existed  between  America 
and  France  since  the  days  of  La  Fayette.  This  ship- 
wreck was  a  cruel  blow  to  my  master.  His  magical  out- 


SHIPWRECK  AND  REVERSES.  57 

fit  was  magnificent,  perhaps  the  most  costly  in  the 
world.  He  had  two  large  chests  filled  with  curios  from 
Mexico  and  South  America,  including  stuffed  birds,  ima- 
ges, a  Mexican  saddle  mounted  with  solid  silver,  a 
Mexican  suit  that  cost  $500,  and  specimens  of  the  gold 
and  silver  currency  of  every  country  he  had  visited. 
He  also  had  about  $8,000  worth  of  cut  and  uncut  Brazil- 
ian diamonds.  Nothing  of  all  this  was  saved.  He  lost 
over  $25,000  by  the  shipwreck. 

Misfortunes,  never  come  singly,  and  so  my  good 
patron  found  to  his  cost.  During  his  Mexican  and 
South  American  trip,  he  had  sent  his  surplus  funds 
from  time  to  time  by  draft  to  his  bankers,  Messrs. 
Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.,  of  New  York  City.  When 
he  reached  London  after  his  shipwreck,  almost  the 
first  news  he  heard,  was  that  Messrs.  Duncan,  Sher- 
man &  Co.  had  failed.  Kellar  went  to  Mr.  J.  S. 
Morgan  in  London,  and  told  his  story,  and  Mr.  Mor- 
gan, with  characteristic  liberality,  advanced  $500  to 
help  -him  to  New  York,  saying  that  if  he  saved  any- 
thing from  the  wreck  of  the  firm,  he  could  pay  the 
$500  to  Messrs.  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.,  in  New  York, 
and  that  if  he  did  not,  there  was  an  end  of  it.  Mr. 
Anthony  J.  Drexel,  of  Philadelphia,  was  a  passenger 
on  the  same  steamer,  and  he  soon  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  Magician.  When  he  had  learned  the  story, 
he  said  :  "  It  is  too  bad  that  a  man  like  you  should  go 
to  the  wall.  If  you  put  your  case  in  my  hands,  I  will 
advance  you  one-third  of  your  claim.  If  I  collect 
more,  I  will  place  it  to  your  credit ;  if  I  collect  less, 
I  will  trust  to  your  honor  to  pay  me  sometime.  In 
any  case,  I  will  charge  you  nothing  for  my  services." 
It  almost  made  my  master  glad  that  he  had  met  with 
reverses,  since  it  showed  him  so  much  of  true  manhood 
and  genuine  sympathy.  He  found  friends  in  need 
who  were  friends  indeed. 

Upon  arriving  at  New  York  he  learned  that  one 
draft,  worth  about  $3,500  at  the  rate  of  exchange  then 


58  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

existing,  had  not  been  passed  to  his  credit  on  the  books 
of  the  firm,  but  had  been  sent  to  London  for  collection. 
Through  the  kindness  and  co-operation  of  Judge 
Shipmau,  the  assignee  of  Messrs.  Duncan,  Sherman  & 
Co.,  the  amount  of  this  draft  was  saved,  and  we  imme- 
diately returned  to  London,  where  the  money  ad- 
vanced by  Mr.  Morgan  was  paid  back,  and  another 
outfit  procured.  As  soon  as  we  were  again  in  condi- 
tion to  take  to  the  road,  we  took  the  steamer  Medway 
to  St.  Thomas,  where  business  was  good  ;  to  Kingston, 
Jamaica,  where  it  was  bad ;  then  to  Panama,  Guaya- 
quil, Gallao,  Lima,  La  Serena,  and  Valparaiso.  In 
most  of  these  cities  we  did  well,  but  bad  luck  again 
struck  Kellar  at  Valparaiso,  and  he  returned  to  Pana- 
ma, where  he  met  Ling  Look  and  Yamadeva,  two  fam- 
ous Chinese  brothers.  They  were  specialists  of  excep- 
tional merit.  Ling  Look  was  a  marvelous  "  Fire-King," 
while  Yamadeva  was  a  contortionist  of  such  rare 
powers,  that  he  was  known  as  the  "  Man-Serpent," 
and  his  every  movement  was  as  graceful  as  a  cat. 
Kellar  formed  a  combination  with  these  men  under  the 
title  of  "  Royal  Illusionists."  The  party  went  to  New 
York  by  the  steamer  Andes,  narrowly  escaping  ship- 
wreck off  Hatteras  in  the  March  Equinoctial  of  1876. 
After  a  short  stay  in  New  York,  the  trio  crossed  over- 
land to  California,  and  began  an  engagement  at  Bald- 
win's Academy  of  Music,  in  San  Francisco,  on  the 
evening  of  May  15,  1876.  For  three  weeks  they 
"drew  the  town,"  and  the  newspapers  of  that  city 
had  nothing  but  praise  for  them. 

At  the  close  of  the  season  at  the  Academy,  the 
Royal  Illusionists  visited  many  cities  of  the  in- 
terior. While  at  "Virginia  City,  Nevada,  a  number 
of  Piute  Indians  attended  a  matinee.  The  braves  tried 
to  appear  unconcerned,  and  maintained  considerable 
composure  of  countenance,  yet  their  eyes  occasionally 
protruded  in  an  unseemly  manner  in  spite  of  all  they 
could  do.  The  squaws  gave  full  vent  to  their  feelings, 


FIRST  BOW  IN  THE  COLONIES.  59 

and  at  times  rocked  themselves  to  and  fro  and  laughed 
immoderately. 

On  the  Centennial  4th  of  July,  we  were  at  Salt 
Lake  City,  Brigham  Young  being  among  the  most 
interested  in  the  audience.  About  this  time  my  mas- 
ter decided  to  visit  Australia  and  the  far  east.  Pas- 
sage was  accordingly  taken  from  San  Francisco,  in  the 
steamship  Australia.  Among  our  fellow  passengers 
were  George  Rignold  "  Henry  V";  Fred  Thome,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Hall,  comedians ;  Miss  Jennie 
Klaus,  the  famous  violinist ;  Charles  Pratt,  pianist,  and 
James  Allison,  the  Australian  impresario.  With  such 
companions,  the  time  passed  very  pleasantly  aboard 
ship. 

The  steamship  touched  at  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
but  we  made  no  stop  until  we  reached  Sydney,  New 
South  Wales,  where  Kellar  placed  himself  under  the 
management  of  Mr.  Al.  Hayman. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FIRST   BOW  IN  THE   COLONIES. 

The  Royal  Illusionists  at  the  Victoria  Theatre  made 
their  first  bow  to  the  Colonies  in  the  presence  of  a  big 
audience ;  among  others  were  Governor  and  Lady 
Robinson  and  suite.  The  entertainment  was  a  great 
success.  The  Royal  Illusionists  became  the  talk  of  the 
town.  Every  performance  was  crowded,  and  the 
papers  seemed  never  to  tire  of  telling  of  the  wonders 
performed. 

A  very  effective  trick,  which  Kellar  was  then  per- 
forming, and  which  he  had  received  with  his  last  Lon- 
don outfit,  was  known  as  the  "  Flying  Cage."  This 
trick  had  made  a  sensation  in  San  Francisco,  and,  in- 
deed, wherever  shown.  It  made  more  than  a  sensation 


60  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUE. 

in  Sydney.  From  wonder  and  surprise  some  good 
people  in  that  city  passed  to  the  horror  stage  after  they 
had  seen  the  "  Flying  Cage  "  a  number  of  times.  In 
their  wisdom  they  decided  that  the  live  bird,  which 
the  cage  contained  when  exhibited  to  the  audience, 
could  not  be  made  to  so  completely  and  instantane- 
ously disappear  without  suffering  bodily  harm.  They 
denounced  the  trick  as  cruel,  and  one  of  them,  who 
used  three  stars  as  a  signature,  wrote  a  long  letter  to 
the  Sydney  Herald,  in  which  he  protested  against  such 
an  exhibition,  unless  it  could  be  shown  that  the  bird 
was  not  hurt.  Now,  my  master  is  one  of  the  most 
tender  hearted  men  that  ever  lived.  He  never  per- 
forms a  trick  of  any  kind  that  gives  pain  to  a  living 
creature.  He  was,  therefore,  very  much  amused  by 
the  commotion  his  trick  excited,  and  when  Mr.  Three 
Stars's  communication  appeared  in  the  Herald,  he  re- 
sponded as  follows: 

Sir: — In  the  Herald  of  this  morning  a  letter  is  pub- 
lished reflecting  upon  one  of  the  most  brilliant  portions  of  the 
Royal  Illusionists'  performances.  The  writer,  under  the 
influence  of  three  stars,  takes  up  his  pen,  and  after  laying 
down  some  axioms  of  persons  named,  Oudin  (does  he  mean 
Houdin?)  boldly  makes  the  insinuation  that,  in  the  Vic- 
toria Theatre,  a  poor  little  canary  is  killed  or  maimed  every 
night  in  the  following  performance  :  "A  casre  containing 
a  canary  is  held  by  the  operator  close  to  his  breast  ;  with- 
out turning  from  the  audience  he  simply  counts  1,  2,  3,  and 
the  cage  and  canary  vanish  before  the  very  eyes  of  the 
spectators.  The  cage  is,  of  course,  what  is  known  as  a 
'trick  cage  ;'  it  collapses  into  a  very  small  compass,  and  is 
easily  passed  away  by  the  performer."  The  writer  then 
says,  there  is  a  strong  belief  that  a  canary  is  killed  every 
time  this  trick  is  performed,  and  in  the  most  marvelously 
innocent  and  bland  manner  asks  that  a  few  respectable  per- 
sons might  have  it  proved  to  them,  without  disclosing  the 
trick,  that  the  canary  is  unhurt. 

It  will  surprise  no  one  acquainted  with  the  author 
of  the  letter,  to  hear  him  first  explain  the  allusion  to  his 


FIRST  BOW  IN  THE  COLONIES.  61 

perfect  satisfaction,  for  he  says,  "Of  course  the  cage  col- 
lapses," and  then  in  fear  and  trembling  almost,  says,  "if  it 
does  not,  how  on  earth  is  it  done  ?" 

The  only  answer  I  have  for  "  Three  Stars  "  is,  that  I 
will  satisfactorily  prove  to  the  editor  of  the  Evening  N~ews 
and  the  editor  of  the  Herald  that  I  have  had  only  the  one  and 
the  same  educated  bird  since  I  came  to  the  Colony,  with 
the  exception  of  the  night  when  my  bird  was  indisposed, 
and  that  it  remains  uninjured.  I  will  perform  this  trick  in 
any  place  and  at  any  time  the  gentlemen  referred  to  may 
decide  upon. 

I  thank  the  writer  for  the  very  tender  regard  he  evinces 
toward  my  pet  canary. 

Yours,  etc., 

HARRY  KELLAR, 
Royal  Illusionist. 

To  completely  remove  any  suspicion  on  the  part  of 
the  public  that  the  performance  of  the  u  Flying  Cage" 
trick  was  in  the  least  degree  prejudicial  to  the  bird, 
Kellar  performed  the  experiment  under  the  cir- 
cumstances explained  in  the  following  extract  from 
the  Sydney  Herald : 

"  More  than  ordinary  attention  has  been  lately  directed 
to  that  particularly  clever  trick  by  Professor  Kellar,  the 
'Flying  Cage.'  It  has  been  asserted  that  a  canary  was 
killed  upon  each  repetition  of  the  trick,  and  a  consequent- 
imputation  of  cruelty  fell  upon  the  'illusionists'  company. 
This  charge,  for  which  there  was  no  foundation  whatever, 
the  Illusionists  determined  to  disprove,  and  they  did  so 
yesterday  afternoon  in  the  presence  of  the  principal  officers 
of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals, 
Messrs.  Want  and  Lett.  We  were  also  present  at  the 
performance,  and  our  own  previous  belief  in  the  harmless- 
ness  of  the  trick  was  fully  confirmed  by  the  experiment  so 
cleverly  performed  within  a  few  feet  of  our  eyes.  Mr. 
Want  held  the  tame  little  bird  in  his  hand,  while  Mr.  Lett 
fastened  a  thread  of  silk  around  one  of  his  legs.  On  being 
placed  in  the  '  Flying  Cage,'  Dickey  was  much  more  anxious 
for  some  few  moments  to  remove  the  silk  than  to  attend  to 
his  duty.  After  a  little  coaxing  Mr.  Kellar  secured  his 


62  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

attention.  The  bird  hopped  upon  the  perch,  and  bird  and 
cage  were  gone.  Astonishment  was  scarcely  overcome, 
whan  Mr.  Kellar  produced  the  bird  encumbered  with  his 
foot  rope,  and  in  perfect  health.  Mr.  Lett  then  removed 
the  silk  and  the  canary  hopped  about  the  stage,  until  told 
to  go  into  his  ordinary  dwelling  place,  which  he  at  once 
did.  There  was  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  fright  even 
upon  the  bird,  and  although  the  secret  of  his  mysterious 
and  lightning-like  disappearance  remains  untold,  the  fact 
that  no  cruelty  whatever  .takes  place  was  most  satisfactorily 
proved,  and  the  public  need  fear  no  more  to  patronize  this 
perfectly  *  legitimate '  trick,  although  '  Robert  Oudin,' 
whoever  he  was,  has  been  quoted  to  the  contrary." 

The  following  letter  confirming  the  above  remarks  has 
been  handed  to  us  for  publication: 

"  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals. 
Sydney,  3rd  October,  1876.  Mr.  A.  HAYMAN,  Manager 
Royal  Illusionists.  Dear  Sir, — It  affords  us  much  pleasure 
to  testify  that  at  your  invitation  we  have  attended  a  special 
performance  of  Mr.  Kellar's  flying  cage  trick.  Mr.  Kellar 
having  produced  a  trained  canary,  we  marked  it  secretly, 
for  the  purpose  of  identification,  and  placed  it  in  the  cage. 
He  then,  standing  at  a  distance  of  less  than  three  yards 
from  us,  caused  the  bird  and  cage  to  disappear  in  precisely 
the  same  way  as  at  his  public  performance.  The  same  bird 
was  immediately  afterwards  restored  to  us  perfectly  unin- 
jured, and  in  a  condition  which  enables  us  to  state  that  it 
had,  apparently,  suffered  no  pain  whatever.  In  justice  to 
Mr.  Kellar,  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  public,  we  have 
no  objection  to  your  making  use  of  this  communication. 
Yours  truly,  R.  Chas.  Want,  Chairman  of  Committee  ; 
Chas.  Lett,  Hon.  Sec.  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals." 

The  "  flying  cage"  gained  in  popularity,  if  possible, 
by  these  events.  It  became  a  favorite  subject  for  the 
cartoonists.  Many  a  politician  was  made  to  look 
ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  by  being  made  to 
figure  as  the  canary  in  the  "  flying  cage."  As  an 
,  the  Sydney  Punch  of  October  li,  1876,  gave 


64  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

a  full  page  cartoon,  which  it  entitled  "The  Mudgee 
4  Cage  Trick,' "  and  described  as  follows  : 

44  Prof.  Kellar  Rouse,  M.P.  (log):  Do  not  be 
alarmed,  ladies  and  gentlemen  ;  I  do  not  kill  the  little 
animal ;  I  simply  make  him  disappear.  One !  two ! 
three  !  (Poor  P — g — t  disappears.)" 

Mr.  Piggott  is  represented  in  this  cartoon  as  a 
"Laughing  Jackass,"  an  Australian  bird  of  peculiar 
build  and  still  more  peculiar  voice. 

The  Royal  Illusionists  then  made  a  very  successful 
tour  through  Australia  and  the  Colonies.  At  Melbourne 
they  met  Cooper  &  Bailey's  circus  (afterward  con- 
solidated with  the  Barnum  show),  and  five  theatres, 
with  good  attractions,  were  at  the  same  time  open  in 
the  city.  Notwithstanding  the  competition,  Kellar 
and  his  associates  enjoyed  a  large  patronage,  and 
created  a  sensation.  During  this  engagement  a 
ludicrous  incident  took  place  one  evening  whilst  the 
44  Cabinet  Seance  "  was  about  to  commence,  on  Mr. 
Hayman  coming  forward  and  asking  for  volunteers  for 
the  committee.  A  gentleman  familiar  to  some  of  the 
audience  stepped  upon  the  stage,  closely  followed  by 
another  young  gentleman,  who  invited  himself.  The 
latter  was  well  dressed,  of  good  appearance,  and  he 
can  be  best  described  as  a  colonial  young  man,  of  good 
position  and  evidently  brimming  over  with — well,  say 
confidence.  He  proceeded  to  tie  up  Mr.  Cunard,  the 
first  gentleman  doing  the  same  office  for  Keilar. 
After  the  tying  was  over,  the  cabinet  feats  were  per- 
formed in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  hitherto — that 
is,  Kellar  always  getting  loose  first.  This  did  not 
satisfy  our  young  friend,  who,  with  an  air  of  triumph, 
boasted  that  the  medium  he  had  tied  (Mr.  Cunard) 
had  not  succeeded  7*n  freeing  himself.  He  further 
stated  that  he  had  seen  Maskeleyne  and  Cook  ;  that 
he  4t  knew  how  it  was  all  done,"  and  if  he  were 
allowed  he  would  tie  Kellar  so  that  the  latter 
could  not  untie  himself.  My  master  expressed  his  readi- 


FIEST  BOW  IN  THE  COLONIES.  65 

ness  to  afford  the  gentleman  the  opportunity  of 
satisfying  his  ambition  ;  but  Mr  Hay  man  quickly 
suggested  that  as  Yamadeva  had  yet  to  be  tied  with 
waxed  cords,  the  desired  chance  of  exhibiting  his 
dexterity,  and  putting  the  performers  to  the  blush, 
was  at  hand.  The  offer  was  accepted.  Yamadeva 
came  forward,  and  the  usual  length  of  waxed  cord 
placed  in  the  young  aspirant's  hand.  He  said  it  was 
not  long  enough.  Two  other  pieces  were  brought  to 
him  (a  quiet  smile  passing  over  Mr.  Hayman's  face  in 
the  meantime),  and  he  proceeded  slowly  and  deliber- 
ately to  tie  them  together.  Then  he  commenced. 
After  putting  the  cord  round  the  wrists,  he  laced  it 
through  and  through  tightly  between  the  fingers.  A 
slight  objection  was  at  first  made  by  Yamadeva,  who, 
however,  seemed  to  think  better  of  it,  and  permitted 
the  somewhat  painful  operation  to  be  finished.  At  the 
conclusion  the  young  gentleman  came  forward,  and  said 
with  modest  confidence,  "  If  he  gets  out  of  that,  he 
beats  me  ;  I'll  give  in."  Yamadeva  went  to  the 
cabinet.  The  doors  were  closed,  and  almost  instantly 
his  two  hands,  free,  were  thrust  through  the  lozenge- 
shaped  openings.  A  few  seconds  later  he  came  out  of 
the  cabinet  free,  amid  shrieks  of  laughter  at  the 
modest  young  man.  As  a  reward  of  merit  one  witty 
lady  threw  the  latter  a  bouquet,  which  he  lifted,  no- 
wise abashed,  and  kissed.  Mr.  Hayinan  stated  that  he 
showed  at  once  his  utter  ignorance  of  rope  tying,  by 
asking  for  additional  rope,  as  all  skillful  tyers,  and 
there  are  plenty  of  them  in  London,  used  very  short 
cords,  which  were  much  more  difficult  to  loosen. 

Other  very  interesting  rope-tying  tests  were  made 
at  every  stopping  place,  and  Kellar  and  his  com- 
panions never  failed  to  confound  those  who  sought  to 
outwit  them.  The  Bendigo  Independent,  of  March  14, 
1877,  describes  one  of  these  experiences  as  follows : 

"  The  feats  of  the  Davenport  Brothers  in  the  cabinet 
were  fully  explained  and  applauded,  as  on  the  first  even- 
5 


66  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK. 

ing.  Professor  Fay's  "  holding  trick  "  was  also  exposed, 
the  audience  being  quite  surprised  at  the  perfect  simplicity 
of  what  was  at  one  time  considered  by  many  to  be  done 
by  the  assistance  of  some  unknown  agency.  Professor 
Kellar  explained  a  trick  performed  by  a  person  in  America, 
styling  himself  a  Spiritualist,  and,  at  his  request,  Yamadeva 
performed  it  with  the  greatest  of  ease,  viz.,  going  into  the' 
cabinet,  and  in  a  few  seconds  placing  a  ring,  which  had 
been  put  in  his  mouth,  on  to  one  of  his  fingers  after  his 
hands  had  been  bound  together  by  a  waxed  cord,  emerging 
from  the  cabinet  with  his  hands  bound  as  before.  When 
this  was  done  on  the  previous  evening  a  Spiritualist  present 
challenged  Mr.  Kellar  to  do  the  Davenport  flour  trick, 
which  challenge  was  accepted,  and  last  night  the  Profes- 
sor not  only  performed  it  with  the  greatest  of  ease,  but  ex- 
posed the  manner  in  which  it  was,  to  the  great  amusement 
of  the  audience,  which  fully  testified  its  appreciation  of  the 
clever  manner  in  which  it  was  gone  through." 

At  Cdoktown  we  met  King  Jacky  Jacky,the  chief  of 
a  tribe  of  natives.  His  dusky  majesty  acquired  his 
title  by  a  trade  he  made  with  the  English  Government. 
In  exchange  for  his  land  he  was  given  a  large  brass 
badge  with  "  King  Jacky  Jacky  "  engraved  upon  it, 
and  he  wore  the  emblem  with  as  much  pride  as  if  it 
had  really  been  an  indication  of  royal  rank.  On  this 
occasion  he  was  accompanied  by  a  comely  "  gin,"  or 
woman,  whom  we  afterward  discovered  was  his  queen. 
King  Jacky  Jacky  was  very  haughty,  but  unbent  his 
dignity  so  far  as  to  beg  a  sixpence  with  which  to  buy 
tobacco.  The  coin  was  given  him,  whereupon  he  told 
his  wife  to  also  asjs  for  sixpence,  but  she  gave  a  grunt 
of  disapproval  and  moved  off  in  a  sulky  way.  The 
royal  temper  began  to  boil  at  this,  and  King  Jacky 
Jacky,  with  a  profound  shake  of  his  head,  declared, 
"  She  no  get  sixpence  ;  me  lick  her  to-night."  My 
master  remonstrated  with  the  king,  telling  him  he 
should  not  strike  a  woman  ;  that  she  was  bashful  as 
became  a  lady  and  a  queen,  and  ended  by  giving  him 
a  sixpence  for  her.  This  so  delighted  the  king  that  he 


DINING  WITH   THE   MAHARAJAH.  67 

agreed  to  give  a  war  dance  in  Mr.  Kellar's  honor  that 
evening.  Before  going  to  the  dance  the  party  provided 
themselves  with  about  a  sovereign's  worth  of  tobacco 
for  the  bucks,  beads  and  trinkets  for  the  gins,  and 
put  the  whole  tribe  in  ecstacies  by  the  presents.  The 
dance  was  the  same  as  that  of  most  savage  tribes, 
jumping  about  in  a  circle,  beating  the  breast,  screech- 
ing wildly,  and  waving  weapons  in  the  air.  Soon  after 
this  we  left  Australia  and  embarked  for  the  far  East. 
The  voyage  was  pleasant,  and  in  a  few  days  after  enjoy- 
ing the  fragrance  of  the  spicy  breezes  that  blow  over 
the  Banda  Sea,  we  passed  Borneo  and  anchored  at 
Singapore. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DINING   WITH  THE  MAHARAJAH. 

Singapore  is  the  capital  of  the  Strait  Settlements, 
and  is  a  lively,  thriving  place.  All  the  steamers  of  the 
Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company  touch  there  on  the 
way  to  and  from  China,  as  well  as  those  of  the  "  Sas- 
soon "  line,  and  the  big  tea  steamers  from  Hankow, 
Shanghai,  and  other  Chinese  cities.  There  are  usually, 
also,  several  ships  of  war  lying  in  the  roads,  and  at  the 
time  of  our  visit  the  big  English  ironclad,  "Audacious," 
with  the  flag  of  Admiral  Ryder,  and  the  paddle  yacht 
44  Vigilant,"  one  of  the  prettiest  specimens  of  naval 
architecture  afloat,  were  at  anchor. 

The  Admiral  and  the  officers,  as  well  as  scores  of 
blue-jackets,  attended  our  performances,  and  my  master 
also  received  the  honor  of  an  invitation  to  the  Govern- 
ment House,  and  gave  an  entertainment  before  the 
Governor,  Sir  Andrew  Clarke,  and  his  staff.  The 
Government  House  is  a  magnificent  white  marble 
palace,  situated  in  a  veritable  garden  of  Eden,  about 


68  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

three  miles  from  Singapore.  Flowers  and  tropical 
plants  of  every  description  abound  in  this  paradise, 
and  the  house  itself,  with  its  enormous  cool  verandahs, 
vast  rooms  with  polished  mahogany  floors,  and  general 
palatial  splendor,  is  about  as  desirable  a  residence  as 
the  human  mind  can  conceive.  It  ought  to  be  a  good 
house,  seeing  that  it  cost  nearly  half  a  million  sterling 
to  build.  There  is  nothing  mean  about  Great  Britain, 
so  far  as  providing  lodgement  for  her  colonial  governors 
goes. 

Amongst  the  party  present  on  the  occasion  of  our 
visit,  was  the  Maharajah  of  Johore.  This  potentate  is 
a  fine,  intelligent  looking  man  of  about  fifty  years  of 
age,  whose  principality  adjoins  Singapore.  He  is  a  de- 
voted friend  and  ally  of  the  English,  and  is  to  a  great 
extent  Anglicized  in  his  tastes.  He  wears  the  native 
dress,  and  follows  the  precepts  of  the  Koran,  by  ab- 
staining (publicly  at  any  rate)  from  the  use  of  wine. 
He  drinks  champagne,  however,  which  "  advanced  " 
Mohammedans  affect  to  look  upon  only  as  a  species  of 
"  sherbet."  This  is  what  one  may  call  "  whipping  the 
devil  around  the  stump,"  but  as  a  junior  devil,  I  really 
don't  think  it  is  much  harm.  At  the  Maharajah's 
palace  at  Johore,  about  ten  miles  from  Singapore,  from 
which  island  it  is  separated  only  by  a  small  strait,  he 
keeps  "  open  house  "  all  the  time,  and  invariably  has 
half  a  dozen  or  more  English  staying  there.  He  is  the 
soul  of  hospitality,  and  his  guests  are  provided  with 
anything  they  may  happen  to  fancy.  Horses,  carriages, 
shooting  and  hunting  equipments,  yachts,  etc.,  are  at 
their  service  simply  on  the  expression  of  a  desire. 

The  Maharajah  has  the  reputation  of  never  allowing 
any  reputable  foreign  visitor  to  pass  through  Singa- 
pore without  an  invitation  to  Johore.  He  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  extend  his  hospitality  to  our  party, 
and  we  drove  over  to  Johore  (in  his  carriages)  one 
evening,  after  the  heat  of  the  day  had  subsided.  It 
was  a  charming  drive,  though  we  suffered  some 


DINING   WITH  THE  MAHARAJAH.  69 

peril  by  reason  of  the  troops  of  monkeys  in  the 
branches  of  the  tall  palm  trees  on  the  road,  that 
occasionally  amused  themselves  by  pelting  us  with 
big  cocoanuts.  It  was  on  a  Saturday  evening,  and  we 
arrived  at  Johore  just  in  time  for  dinner  at  8  o'clock. 
In  the  Far  East  8  o'clock  is  the  ordinary  dinner  hour, 
that  is  to  say,  with  foreigners.  The  natives  dine  when- 
ever and  wherever  the  opportunity  offers.  The  Maha- 
rajah's palace  is  larger  than  the  Government  House  at 
Singapore,  and  is  probably  capable  of  accommodating 
about  three  hundred  guests.  It  was  a  brilliant  moon- 
light evening,  and  we  were  preceded  by  a  mounted 
escort,  bearing  flaming  torches,  and  were  received  in 
the  court  yard  by  a  detachment  of  the  Maharajah's 
body  guard,  and  attended  to  our  apartments.  Having 
changed  our  clothes,  we  were  conducted  to  the  dining- 
room,  a  splendid  white  marble  hall,  magnificently  fur- 
nished and  ornamented  with  arms  and  hunting  tro- 
phies, grinning  heads  of  the  enormous  tigers  with 
which  the  adjacent  jungle  abounds,  elephants'  tusks, 
alligator  jaws,  and  so  on.  After  dinner,  which  lasted 
till  nearly  11  o'clock,  we  were  taken  to  a  sort  of  am- 
phitheatre near  by  where  we  smoked  our  cheroots,  and 
were  treated  to  a  tiger  and  elephant  fight.  It  was  a 
fearsome  spectacle,  and  rendered  more  wildly  barbaric 
by  the  red  light  shed  by  two  torches.  The  beasts 
fought  squarely,  and  it  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  the 
great  feline  would  never  loose  his  hold  on  the  pachy- 
derm's shoulder.  The  latter,  "  trumpeting  "  wildly, 
however,  belabored  the  tiger  with  furious  blows  from 
his  trunk,  and  finally  succeeded  in  getting  the  big 
striped  "  cat  "  under  his  gigantic  knees,  where  he  had 
him  at  his  mercy,  and  in  a  short  time  the  tiger  was 
only  good  to  have  a  rug  made  of  his  skin.  After  this 
exciting,  and  it  must  be  confessed  rather  brutal,  exhi- 
bition, we  adjourned  to  the  smoking  room,  where  the 
night  came  nearly  slipping  into  day  before  we  sought 
our  couches,  and  roused  the  "  punkah- wallahs "  to 


70  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

their  work.  Sleep  in  cither  Singapore  or  Johore  would 
be  impossible  without  a  punkah.  They  are  too  close  to 
the  equator.  So  there  is  a  punkah  over  every  bed,  and  a 
patient,  meek  and  mild  Malay  coolie  pulls  it  unceas- 
ingly during  the  night.  Six  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
however,  found  us  splashing  and  rolling  in  the  clear, 
refreshing  river,  our  chota-hazra  (or  little  breakfast) 
of  coffee  and  fruit  and  eggs,  with  the  inevitable  B.  and 
S.  having  been  served  to  us  at  5:30,  so  that  we  might 
enjoy  the  air  before  the  sun  got  over  the  tops  of  the 
date  palms.  After  our  bath,  horses  were  ready,  and 
we  went  for  a  ten  mile  ride  into  the  jungle,  and  back 
to  "tiffin"  at  1:30.  "  Tiffin,"  in  the  Far  East,  and 
especially  under  the  luxuriously  hospitable  roof  of  the 
Maharah  of  Johore,  is  a  serious  matter.  As  an  every 
day  affair  it  is  a  great  deal  more  sumptuous  and  elabo- 
rate than  many  of  the  so-called  "  banquets"  I  have,  in 
my  capacity  of  a  junior  devil,  attended  in  this  country. 
There  is  material  in  attendance,  and  more  than  that, 
good  cooks  are  by  no  means  rare.  The  "  artist  "  who 
serves  the  Maharajah  is  a  man  of  high  repute,  and 
lives  up  to  his  reputation.  Our  "  tiffin  "  on  this  occa- 
sion was  a  "  poem."  Twenty-three  dishes  were  served, 
including,  of  course,  the  "  curry,"  for  which  that  part 
of  the  world  is  famous.  People  in  America  who  have 
never  visited  the  Far  East,  haven't  the  foggiest  notion 
what  "  curry  "  really  is.  I  have  seen  many  attempts 
made  in  this  country  and  in  England  to  make  "  curry," 
but  they  have  all  been  dismal  failures.  The  fact  is, 
that  no  one  can  make  curry  properly  unless  he  has 
the  necessary  ingredients  fresh  to  his  hand.  The 
pimento,  the  green  peppers,  and  the  various  spices, 
must  all  be  gathered  fresh  daily,  and  the  rice  must  be 
cooked  with  the  Trn'sterious  skill  known  only  to  the 
Hindoo  and  the  Malay.  When  served,  every  grain  is 
separate  from  its  fellows,  and  is  perfectly  dry,  instead 
of  the  clammy  mass  that  usually  makes  its  forlorn 
appearance  on  American  tables.  Then  there  is  the 


COSTUME  OF  BURMESE  AMBASSADORS. 
71  See  page  90 


72  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

dish  fashioned  after  the  manner  of  a  "  Pope  Joan  " 
board,  and  containing  all  manner  of  appetizing  relishes 
and  zests,  including  the  famous  dried  fish  known  as  the 
44  Bombay  duck."  A  curry  of  fish,  or  vegetables,  or 
frogs'  legs,  prepared  by  a  Malay  cook,  and  eaten  at  the 
moment  it  is  ready,  is  a  dish  fit  not  only  for  gods,  but 
for  well  educated  junior  and  senior  devils,  and  I  know 
that  it  always  makes  my  tail  curl  with  delight.  The 
onl}T  objection  is,  that  at  big  "  tiffins  "  the  curry  is 
served  after  one  has  already  eaten  such  a  lot  of  food 
that  hardly  a  crevice  is  left  for  it. 

We  passed  the  afternoon  inspecting  the  Maharajah's 
splendid  stable  and  the  beautiful  gardens  of  the  palace, 
and  when  the  shades  of  evening  began  to  grow  long, 
we  reluctantly  bade  adieu  to  the  lovely  place  and 
drove  back  to  Singapore. 

The  following  Sunday  we  dined  with  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Whampoa,  a  Chinese  gentleman,  who  is  a  member  of 
the  Legislative  Council  of  the  Straits  Settlements,  and 
a  millionaire  merchant.  Mr.  Whampoa  has  a  beauti- 
ful house  some  six  miles  from  Singapore,  and  is  just  as 
hospitable  as  the  Maharajah.  "  Whampoa's  Gardens  " 
are  celebrated  all  over  the  world,  and  are  one  of  the 
principal  "sights"  of  Singapore.  The  old  gentleman 
is  a  great,  big,  portly  fellow,  speaks  English  perfectly, 
and  has  most  distinguished  manners.  His  dinners  are 
famous,  and  require  a  specially  good  trencherman  to 
appreciate  properly,  seeing  that,  in  fact,  they  consist  of 
two  distinct  dinners,  the  first  in  the  Chinese  fashion, 
consisting  of  bird's-nest  soup,  shark's  fins,  decayed  plov- 
ers' eggs,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  long  list  of  Celestial 
delicacies,  with  hot  samshu,  in  porcelain  cups;  and  the 
second,  a  regular  European  feed,  commencing  with  hors 
d'oeuvres,soup,  and  so  on,  straight  through  to  dessert, 
with  a  selection  of  choice  vintages.  Mr.  Whampoa  never 
permits  his  guests  to  turn  out  after  dinner,  but  one  is 
expected  to  stay  till  night,  and  one's  apartments  are  as- 
signed on  arrival.  Dinner  is  at  8:30,  and  usually  lasts 


BOAR   HUNT   IN  JAVA.  73 

until  midnight,  after  which  the  host  and  the  guests  sit 
around  the  room  in  Chinese  fashion,  the  chairs  all 
around  the  walls,  and  chat  and  smoke  with  occasional 
intervals  for  B.  and  S.  until  they  feel  inclined  to  retire. 
The  host  does  not  appear  in  the  morning,  but  the  Cho- 
ta-hazra  is  always  accompanied  by  a  present  of  some 
trifling  value,  and  "Mr.  YVhampoa's  compliments  and 
thanks,"  and  then  carriages  are  at  the  door  to  take  one 
back  to  town.  Poor,  good,  old  Whampoa,  he  enter- 
tains no  more,  having  been  gathered  to  his  ancestors 
some  three  or  four  years  ago. 


CHAPTER  X. 

BOAR   HUNT   IN  JAVA. 

The  Royal  Illusionists  enjoyed  a  pleasant  visit  to 
Singapore,  and  from  thance  procesded  to  Java,  landing 
at  Batavia,  the  capital  of  Dutch  India.  The  city  is 
situated  on  both  sides  of  the  river  Jacatra,  in  a  swampy 
plain  at  the  head  of  a  capacious  bay.  The  streets  are 
usually  straight  and  regular,  and  many  of  them  are 
from  100  to  200  feet  wide,  while  in  not  a  few  cases 
there  is  a  canal  in  the  center,  lined  with  stone  and  de- 
fended by  low  parapets,  while  almost  every  street  and 
square  is  fringed  with  trees.  The  houses  of  the  better 
classes  resemble  country  villas.  Even  the  stores  have 
gardens  in  front,  and  but  for  the  signs  would  not  be 
suspected  of  being  devoted  to  trade.  It  was  a  pleasant 
sight  to  see  the  plump  and  pretty  Dutch  ladies  sitting  in 
front  of  their  homes  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  clad  in  white 
jackets  and  serangs,  the  latter  being  a  strip  of  calico 
wound  about  the  loins  and  forming  a  sort  of  skirt.  My 
master  noted  as  a  curious  fact  that  the  children  of  Euro- 
peans are  much  darker  than  their  parents.  He  found 
the  theater — the  Opera  Gebouw — to  be  remarkably 


74  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

well  ventilated.  A  good  piazza  ran  around  it,  and  the 
walls  were  only  high  enough  to  keep  those  on  the  out- 
side from  looking  in,  ample  space  being  left  between 
the  top  of  the  wall  and  the  roof  support,  to  permit  of 
the  free  circulation  of  air.  The  theater  belonged  to  a 
club,  and  was  given  free  of  charge. 

But  while  his  party  was  received  with  much  popular 
favor  at  Batavia,  my  master  had  a  very  unpleasant  ex- 
perience there.  It  is  a  law  in  Java  that  strangers 
must  register  and  announce  to  the  proper  authorities  the 
object  of  their  visit,  and  the  time  they  propose  to  stay. 
The  penalty  for  failing  to  do  this  is  15  guilders  a  day 
for  each  person.  Kellar  had  no  intimation  that 
this  was  the  case  until  about  a  month,  when  offi- 
cers swooped  down  upon  him.  To  be  fined  under  such 
circumstances  was  peculiarly  galling,  particularly  as  the 
sum  demanded  was  a  very  large  one.  Kellar  imme- 
diately set  about  to  secure  a  remittal  of  the  fine,  and 
through  the  efforts  of  the  American  Consul  and  the 
intervention  of  the  Governor-General's  son  succeeded. 
From  Batavia  we  went  to  Semarang,  Sourabaya, 
Solo,  Djok-Djakarta  and  Soerakarta,  appearing  before 
the  Rajah  in  his  palace  in  the  latter  place. 

The  Royal  Illusionists  next  visited  Pekalongan, 
landing  in  a  surf  boat.-  There  was  a  tremendous  surf 
on  the  bar,  and  the  boat  was  rowed  up  the  small  stream 
a  distance  of  five  miles  to  the  town.  My  master  played 
at  the  Club  Harmonie,  and  was  courted  by  the  best 
people.  The  Club  paid  2,000  guilders  for  the  enter- 
tainment. The  audience  was  very  select,  being  com- 
posed only  of  the  families  and  friends  of  the  Club 
members.  Kellar  was  delayed  at  Pekalongan  for 
five  days  while  waiting  for  a  steamer.  It  was  with  ex- 
ceptional pleasure,  therefore,  that  he  accepted  the  in- 
vitation of  an  American  gentleman,  who  owned  a  large 
sugar  plantation  and  refinery  in  that  neighborhood,  to 
go  with  him  on  a  boar  hunt.  Wild  boars  were  very 
numerous  on  his  estates,  and  as  the  ground  was  dan- 


BOAR  HUNT  IN  JAVA.  75 

gerous  for  horses,  because  of  the  roughness  and  the 
many  small  holes  that  abounded,  it  was  arranged  that 
the  party  should  go  on  foot  armed  with  Remington  rifles 
and  swords  or  machettos.  The  orthodox  fashion  was  to 
be  on  horseback  and  armed  with  boar  spears.  A  number 
of  good  dogs  accompanied  the  party,  and  they  soon 
started  up  a  magnificent  old  boar,  who  sprang  from  his 
lair  with  a  grunt  of  defiance,  and  tossed  his  head  for  a 
moment  as  if  doubtful  whether  to  charge  or  run  away. 
He  decided  that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor, 
and  made  a  dash  for  the  cane.  As  he  did  so, 
Kellar  fired,  wounding  him  in  the  flank.  The  savage 
brute  instantly  turned,  and  like  a  flash  made  straight 
for  his  assailant.  A  young  English  gentleman,  Mr. 
Kennedy,  seeing  my  master's  danger,  ran  to  his  assist- 
ance, and,  with  his  machetto,  dealt  the  boar  a  blow 
across  the  shoulders  that  caused  him  to  turn  and  at- 
tack his  new  foe.  Mr  Kennedy  was  not  quick  enough 
to  avoid  the  charge.  The  boar  ripped  his  thigh  open 
with  one  slash  of  his  murderous  tusks,  and  would  have 
disemboweled  him  in  a  moment  had  not  Kellar 
rushed  in  and  given  the  brute  a  tremendous  blow 
across  the  small  of  the  back  with  his  sword,  which 
rendered  him  helpless.  Mr.  Kennedy's  wound  was 
found  to  be  an  ugly  one.  It  reached  to  the  bone,  and 
was  long  enough  to  admit  a  man's  open  hand.  The 
rest  of  the  party  speedily  came  upon  another  boar,  and 
the  man  who  had  so  generously  risked  his  life  to  save 
that  of  a  friend,  was  tenderly  assisted  to  the  house. 
My  master  had  all  the  boar  hunting  he  cared  for  at 
that  time. 

On  arriving  at  the  overseer's  house,  my  master  saw 
a  very  large  orang-outang  sitting  in  a  swing  and  lazily 
swaying  himself  to  and  fro.  The  overseer's  daughter, 
a  girl  of  about  six  years,  ran  up  to  the  orang  and  told 
him  to  get  out,  as  she  wanted  to  have  a  swing  herself. 
As  the  old  fellow  did  not  offer  to  budge,  the  little  girl 
began  to  vigorously  box  his  ears.  My  master  looked 


76  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

on  horror-stricken,  expecting  to  see  the  huge  brute  re- 
sent the  blows,  and  knowing  well  the  great  strength 
possessed  by  these  anthropoid  apes,  as  well  as  the  surly 
tempers  of  the  old  ones.  Imagine  his  surprise  and  de- 
"light,  therefore,  when  he  saw  the  orang  put  his  hand 
to  his  head  and  moan  piteously,  as  if  begging  for 
mercy.  The  little  girl  still  continued  her  blows,  how- 
ever, and  the  big  orang  finally  got  out  of  the  swing, 
allowing  the  little  fairy  to  take  his  place.  He  then 
moved  the  swing  for  her  with  all  the  intelligence  of  a 
human  being.  Kellar  was  greatly  impressed  with 
these  apes,  which  he  believes  are  well  worthy  of  their 
name,  orang-outang  (Malay  for  "  Man  of  the  Woods  "). 
They  display  in  many  respects  as  much  intelligence  as 
the  lowest  order  of  savages,  and  have  many  peculiarities 
that  are  startlingly  human. 

From  Pekalongan,  Kellar  and  his  party  went  by 
steamer  to  Bangkok,  and  afterward  performed  before  the 
King  of  Siam,  who  was  so  highly  pleased  that  he  wanted 
to  confer  the  order  of  the  White  Elephant  on  Kellar.  A 
public  exhibition  was  given  in  a  bungalow,  arid  this 
delighted  the  subjects  as  much  as  the  previous  enter- 
tainment had  charmed  their  royal  master.  Bangkok  is 
a  striking  city  both  in  its  extent,  the  strange  archi- 
tecture of  its  more  important  buildings,  and  the  luxu- 
riant greenness  of  its  trees,  which  grow  profusely 
everywhere.  The  streets  are  in  many  cases  traversed 
by  canals,  and  the  houses  raised  on  piles,  while  a  large 
part  of  the  population  dwell  in  floating  houses  moored 
along  the  river  sides  in  tiers  three  or  four  deep.  The 
ordinary  buildings  are  composed  of  wood,  or  bamboo 
work,  but  the  temples  and  palaces  are  of  more  solid  con- 
struction, and  are  gorgeously  ornamented.  One  of  the 
most  conspicuous  objects  in  the  city  is  the  great 
Pagoda,  which  towers  majestically  above  all  the  sur- 
rounding buildings.  On  approaching  Bangkok  by  the 
river  (Menam  Chow  Phya)  the  steamer  sweeps  around 
the  bend  of  the  stream,  frequently  so  close  to  the  bank 


BOAR   HUNT  IN   JAVA.  77 

that  the  branches  of  the  trees  brush  the  water.  This 
is  the  source,  probably,  of  the  story  of  the  Straits  of 
Balam-Banjang,  which  are  said  to  be  so  narrow  that 
the  monkeys  jam  their  tails  off  in  the  shears  of  the  blocks 
of  passing  vessels.  The  stream  is  very  rapid,  and  be- 
ing shallow,  only  vessels  of  light  draught  can  ascend 
to  the  city.  There  are  few  sights  more  beautiful 
than  the  appearance  of  Bangkok  as  one  comes  up  from 
the  sea.  The  tall  spires  of  the  "  wats,"  or  Buddhist 
temples,  of  which  there  are  a  vast  number,  glisten  in 
in  the  sun.  These  are  beautifully  decorated  in  Mosaic 
work  of  myriad  colors,  and  the  extreme  top  is  equally 
gilded.  Flags  of  all  nations  float  from  the  various  con- 
sulates, and  the  White  Elephant  of  Siain,  on  a  red 
field  is  seen  on  the  native  ships  of  war  and  over  the 
numerous  palaces.  On  the  banks  are  the  beautiful 
gardens  belonging  to  the  royal  family  and  the  nobles. 
Siam  is  exceptionally  well  off  in  regard  to  rulers, 
and  the  greatest  care  is  exercised  that  there  shall  be 
no  break  or  hitch  in  the  succession.  There  is 
a  First  King,  who  is  the  actual  sovereign,  and  a 
Second  King,  who  is  maintained  in  royal  state  so 
as  to  be  ready  at  all  times  to  assume  the  throne  in  case 
anything  happens  to  the  First  King.  At  the  time 
of  our  visit  the  First  King,  His  Majesty  Chu  Phra 
Chula  Longkorn,  was  a  young  man  of  twenty-five,  and 
the  Second  King  was  his  uncle.  In  addition  to  this, 
there  was  a  Regent,  who  had  held  office  during  the 
minority  of  the  First  King,  and  still  retained  his  style 
and  title  as  well  as  his  emoluments.  The  river  is  the 
principal  highway  of  Bangkok,  and  is  alive  constantly 
with  crafts  of  all  descriptions  darting  hither  and  thither 
over  the  swift  and  rather  turbid  waters.  There  are 
boats  of  all  kinds,  from  the  stately  barge  of  some  high 
government  official  pulling  twenty  or  thirty  oars,  to 
the  primitive  canoe  of  the  fruit-seller  propelled  by  one 
paddle.  All  the  foreign  "  Hongs,"  or  business  houses, 
have  their  private  boats  also,  and  each  of  these  is  orna- 


78  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

merited  with  the  flag  of  the  country  the  house  rep- 
resents. The  stars  and  stripes  were  over  the  house  of 
Russell  &  Co.,  a  charming  place  with  a  big  garden  and 
a  lawn  leading  to  the  river's  edge.  Like  the  foreign- 
ers in  every  other  settlement  in  the  Far  East,  the 
temporary  dwellers  in  Bangkok  exercise  the  most  gen- 
erous hospitality,  and  a  stranger  will  not  remain  at  the 
Hotel  Falk  very  many  hours  before  he  receives  an 
invitation  to  take  up  his  quarters  in  one  of  the  houses. 
It  so  happened  that  whilst  we  were  in  Bangkok 
there  occurred  the  ceremony  of  the  cremation  of  the 
body  of  a  recently  deceased  exalted  lady,  no  less 
than  the  wife  of  the  Regent  and  aunt  of  the  First  King. 
This  "  function  "  took  place  in  a  bamboo  grove  about 
half  a  mile  from  the  palace  of  the  Regent.  An  open 
space  was  cleared,  and  in  the  center  was  erected  a 
very  pretty  altar  made  of  green  bamboo  branches  split 
in  half.  The  affair  was  very  gracefully  built,  and  re- 
sembled a  very  pretty  Corinthian  cross.  At  the  height 
of  about  six  feet  was  a  pile  of  short  bamboo  faggots, 
each  one  tipped  with  gold  leaf.  A  large  marquee  was 
erected  right  in  front  of  the  altar  for  tk  the  quality,"  as 
they  say  in  Ireland,  and  all  around  were  canvas  booths, 
with  acrobats,  tumblers,  jugglers,  and  as  many  enter- 
tainments of  this  sort  as  are  usually  to  be  seen  at  a 
county  fair.  Around  the  foot  of  the  altar  were  ranged 
a  band  of  musicians  (?)  who  made  a  frightful  charivari 
with  tom-toms  and  other  native  instruments,  their 
efforts  being  aided  by  the  moans  aud  lamentations  of  a 
score  of  professional  mourners.  In  a  small  tent  re- 
posed the  remains  of  the  lamented  deceased.  There 
wasn't  much  left  of  the  "  remains,"  by  the  way,  as  the 
old  lady  had  been  dead  about  a  month,  but  what  there 
was  was  quite  sufficient  to  prove  conclusively  that  she 
had  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  As  a  mark  of  special 
favor  we  were  taken  in  one  by  one  to  view  the  remains. 
Although  as  a  junior  devil  I  am  of  course  not  unfa- 
miliar with  the  fragrance  of  roast  missionary,  barbecued 


80  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

lawyer  and  other  toothsome  dishes,  I  must  confess  that 
I  should  not  have  been  sorry  if  I  had  been  "left  out" 
in  this  invitation.  The  old  lady  had  been  a  little  old 
lady  apparently.  '  At  any  rate  all  that  was  left  of  her 
in  the  white  satin-lined  rosewood  coffin  might  have 
been  easily  put  into  a  big  envelope.  After  we  had 
paid  our  respects  we  were  conducted  to  the  big  mar- 
quee, placed  in  seats  which  commanded  an  excellent 
view  of  the  altar,  and  served  with  champagne  and 
other  "  restoratives."  Presently  the  royal  party  ar- 
rived. The  household  of  the  Regent  in  gorgeous  blue 
uniforms  with  white  ornaments,  the  mourning  color  of 
Siam,  and  all,  of  course,  wearing  the  graceful t;  Sarong  " 
draped  artistically  between  the  limbs  in  a  fashion  that 
would  make  any  professional  "  breeches  "  maker  turn 
green  with  envy.  Then  came  the  ladies  of  the  Zenana, 
clad  all  in  pure  white,  and  looking  as  melancholy  as  if 
the  old  lady  had  been  mother-in-law  to  them  all.  Then 
followed  more  guards  and  the  venerable  Regent  himself, 
a  fine  grizzled  old  party,  with  a  merry  twinkling  eye  and 
a  rubicund  visage.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  rela- 
tives, the  two  brothers  of  the  First  King,  the  son  of  the 
Second  King,  and  was  attended  by  a  brilliant  staff. 
These  all  took  seats  in  the  pavilion  erected  for  their 
especial  use,  and  then  the  real  fun  began.  The  coffin 
was  brought  out,  and,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  men  of 
the  old  lady's  household,  was  placed  on  the  top  of  the 
decorated  faggots.  The  tom-toms  thumped  louder,  the 
mourners  howled  piteously,  and  the  attendants,  at  a 
given  signal,  fired  the  pile,  which  had  previously  been 
saturated  with  imflammable  oil.  Each  member  of  the 
family  then  put  in  his  or  her  special  faggot,  the  old 
Regent  putting  his  torch  last.  The  flames  blazed  fierce- 
ly up,  the  bamboo  sputtered  and  crackled,  and  fire 
waved,  and  in  a  very  short  space  the  entire  structure, 
coffin,  and  the  exalted  "  remains,"  were  consumed,  and 
nothing  but  a  pile  of  ashes  remained  As  soon  as  this 
was  accomplished,  we  withdrew,  having  been  most 


BOAR   HUNT   IN    JAVA.  81 

agreeably  entertained,  and  having  formed  the  conclu- 
sion that  cremation,  at  any  rate  in  the  Siamese  manner, 
is  a  very  excellent  notion. 

.  There  was  to  be  a  dance  the  same  evening  at  the 
house  of  Captain  Bush,  the  Captain  of  the  Port  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Siamese  Navy.  Captain 
Bush  was  (and  I  hope  still  is)  an  American  who  had 
lived  many  years  in  Siam,  and  enjoyed  high  royal 
favor.  He  was  a  jolly  "  old  salt,"  as  hospitable  as  an 
Arab,  and  went  Jephthah,  Judge  of  Israel,  "  one  bet- 
ter," in  that  he  had  two  fair  (or  rather  dark)  daugh- 
teis,  whom  he  loved  passing  well,  and  who  were  the 
belles  of  Bangkok.  Of  course,  we  were  all  bidden  to 
the  dance,  but  when  I  asked  the  King's  younger 
brother,  Prince  Paradox  (or  a  name  that  sounded  like 
that)  whether  we  should  see  him  at  the  Bush  dance, 
he  replied  sorrowfully,  "No,  indeed.  I'm  afraid  not. 
I  have  to  stay  here  till  the  fire  is  quite  burnt  out,  and 
then  when  the  moon  shows  over  the  towers  of  War  Po 
(the  big  Buddhist  temple),  I  have  to  accompany  the 
priests  to  the  river  and  cast  my  excellent  old  aunt's 
ashes  in  the  waters,  with  appropriate  ceremonies."  I 
was  sorry  for  H,  R.  H.,  but  as  I  was  graciously  ac- 
corded another  waltz  by  the  lovely  Alice  (was  it  Alice, 
Uno,  or  Lucy  ?)  in  consequence  of  his  absence,  I  was 
consoled.  My  master  and  I  danced  that  night  till  the 
gunpowder  ran  out  at  the  heels  of  our  boots,  and  went 
to  bed  in  our  snug  quarters  at  the  Russell  house  about 
daylight,  dreaming  of  Alice's  eyes  and  cremation. 
This  was  the  result  of  the  u  funeral  baked  meats,"  fol- 
lowed by  hospitable  Captain  Bush's  punch.  However, 
as  we  were  to  leave  Bangkok  the  next  day,  and  had  a 
fortnight's  sea  voyage  in  which  to  pull  ourselves  to- 
gether, it  didn't  matter  very  much. 


82  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE  CITY   OF   SHANGHAI. 

We  rolled  up  the  China  Sea  past  the  fatal  spot 
where  the  bones  of  the  "  Stanly  "  lie,  past  Hong  Kong 
and  Formosa  and  on  to  Shanghai,  at  which  place  we 
first  went  out  on  the  Bubbling  Well  road  five  or  six 
miles  to  a  summer  resort  known  as  the  Hermitage. 
The  road  lay  through  cotton  fields,  where  natives  were 
seen  picking  cotton,  spinning  and  weaving  it  all  by 
hand.  We  were  also  impressed  with  the  great  number 
of  mounds  which  covered  the  ground,  and  which 
proved  to  be  the  graves  of  dead  Chinamen.  The  rev- 
erence of  the  Chinese  for  their  ancestors  is  remarkable. 
A  grave  is  held  sacred.  But  this  devotion  to  their 
dead  did  not  inspire  us  with  any  great  affection  for 
the  race.  One  could  not  help  being  interested,  how- 
ever, in  a  country  where,  as  Wingrove  Cook  has  said, 
"  the  roses  have  no  fragrance,  and  the  women  no  petti- 
coats ;  where  the  laborer  has  no  Sabbath,  and  the  mag- 
istrate no  sense  of  honor  ;  where  the  needle  points  to 
the  south,  and  the  sign  of  being  puzzled  is  to  scratch 
the  antipodes  of  the  head  ;  where  a  place  of  honor  is  on 
the  left  hand,  and  the  seat  of  intellect  is  the  stomach ; 
where  to  take  off  your  hat  is  an  insolent  jesture,  and 
to  wear  white  garments  is  to  put  yourself  into  mourn- 
ing." 

The  city  of  Shanghai  is  divided  into  four  u  conces- 
sions," American,  English,  French  and  native.  A 
beautiful,  broad  drive  along  the  river  front,  known  as 
the  Bunda,  leads  through  the  English  and  French  sec- 
tions, and  ends  at  the  American  town.  It  is  lighted 


THE  CITY  OF  SHANGHAI.  83 

with  electric  lights,  and  is  the  favorite  promenade  and 
driveway  for  foreigners. 

The  hotels  in  Shanghai  furnish  cards  to  guests,  on 
which  are  the  Chinese  characters  for  certain  words  and 
their  English  pronunciation.  By  this  means  the 
stranger  can  give  orders  to  his  jiniricksha  man,  or 
chair  coolies,  and  travel  about  independent  of  a  guide. 
For  instance,  for  "  post-office  "  he  would  say  Bawling 
Su  sing  Kwan  ;  for  "  North  China  Herald,"  Zsling  ; 
for  u  theatre,"  Sing  song  house  ;  for  "  hurry-up,"  chop 
chop  ;  for  "  stop,"  man  man.  My  master  found  the 
coolies  to  be  very  ungrateful.  The  Government  price- 
list  is  about  50  cents  a  day  per  man,  but,  wishing  to 
be  liberal  with  them,  my  master  would  give  each  man 
$  1.50  or  more,  and  in  every  instance  the  coolie  would 
demand  additional  pay,  thinking  it  was  ignorance  or 
fear  that  actuated  the  stranger.  The  first  time  this  was 
tried  on  my  master,  he  took  the  money  back  and  then 
paid  the  legal  50  cents,  whereupon  the  coolie  kissed  his 
hand.  My  master  regularly  offered  an  extra  fee  after- 
ward, in  a  vain  effort  to  find  a  grateful  coolie. 

The  filth  of  the  native  town  of  Shanghai  is  disgust- 
ing. The  streets  are  very  narrow  and  the  stench 
dreadful.  Pools  of  stagnant  water  are  frequent,  and  a 
thick,  green  scum  invariably  covers  them.  From  these 
pools  clouds  of  gnats  and  flies  arise,  but  the  Chinamen 
seem  to  be  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  insects. 

The  Chinese  are  said  to  be  obtuse-nerved,  and  meas- 
urably insensible  to  suffering.  Certainly  the  punish- 
ments inflicted  on  culprits  in  that  country  are  of  a  char- 
acter to  shock  an  American.  At  the  native  jail  in 
Shanghai  one  can  see  prisoners  in  cages,  and  undergo- 
ing various  kinds  of  punishment.  One  of  the  caging 
processes  is  as  follows :  The  culprit  is  put  into  a  cage , 
through  the  top  of  which  his  head  protrudes,  and 
which  is  just  long  enough  to  allow  the  tips  of  his  toes 
to  touch  the  ground.  In  this  position,  hanging,  as  it 
were,  by  the  neck,  with  just  enough  support  from  his 


84  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

r 

feet  to  prevent  his  neck  from  dislocating,  the  wretch 
must  rem;iin  for  days,  until  starvation  and  exhaustion 
put  an  end  to  his  suffering.  Often  the  offense,  which 
is  an  excuse  for  this  torture,  is  of  the  most  trivial 
nature. 

A  number  of  brand  new,  British-built  Chinese  ships 
of  war  were-  lying  at  Shanghai.  These  vessels  are' 
known  as  the  Alphabetical  Fleet,  because  each  one  is 
named  after  a  letter  of  the  Greek  alphabet.  These 
vessels  were  all  armed  with  guns  of  the  newest  pat- 
erns,  and  were  for  the  most  part  offijered  by  foreign- 
ers, though  the  sailors  are  Chinamen.  They  are  of  the 
corvette  and  "  sloop-of-war  "  type,  and  are  very  effi- 
cient war  ships,  though,  as  in  case  of  a  rupture  with  a 
foreign  country,  should  their  officers  resign  their  com- 
missions, they  would  certainly  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the 
enem}7.  The  Chinese  are  the  most  industrious  people 
in  the  world,  but  they  are  not  "  great''  as  fighters,  and 
without  energetic  leaders  are  utterly  useless  at  criti- 
cal moments.  With  a  chief  in  whom  they  trust,  like 
"  Chinese  Gordon,"  for  instance,  they  will  fight  val- 
iantly indeed,  having, in  fact,  no  fear  of  death  ;  and  the 
achievements  of  the  "ever  victorious  army  "  show  that 
there  is  good  stuff  in  them,  from  a  military  point  of 
view,  if  only  the  leader  is  sagacious  and  strong  enough 
to  bring  it  into  action. 

At  the  Hermitage,  Yamadeva  burst  a  blood  vessel 
while  playing  bowls,  and  he  could  no  longer  take  part 
in  the  entertainments.  My  master  and  Ling  Look  con- 
tinued, however,  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre.  It  was  here 
we  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  famous  Chang,  the 
Chinese  giant.  They  were  all  in  the  theater  between 
performances,  and  the  light  was  rather  dim.  At  the 
time  of  the  introduction  my  master  was  standing  in 
the  depression  occupied  by  the  orchestra,  and  Chang 
was  sitting  in  one  of  the  front  row  seats.  When  Ling 
Look  presented  his  friend,  my  master  had  no  idea  that 
Chang  was  a  giant,  and  as  the  latter  slowly  arose  to  his 


THE   CITY   OF   SHANGHAI.  85 

feet  the  advantage  he  had  of  standing  on  a  higher 
level  made  him  appear  to  be  almost  ten  feet  high.  It 
was  a  startling  sight,  and  my  master,  for  a  moment,  was 
dumb  with  surprise.  Chang  was  then  a  prosperous  tea 
merchant  in  Shanghai.  He  escorted  Kellar  through 
the  tea-houses  of  the  city  and  took  him  to  a  Chinatown 
theater,  where  he  occupied  a  box,  for  which  they  paid 
$5.  Every  occupant  of  the  box  was  served  with  a  cup 
of  tea  made  then  and  there.  A  little  tea  would  be  put 
in  the  bottom  of  a  small  bowl,  a  cup  inverted  over  the 
tea  and  hot  water  poured  into  the  bowl.  The  tea  was 
drank  without  sugar  or  milk.  After  the  tea,  nargilehs 
(Turkish  pipes)  were  served.  There  was  no  scenery, 
and  the  gallery  ran  over  the  stage.  When  a  man  was 
killed  in  the  course  of  the  play,  he  would  immediately 
get  up  and  walk  off  the  stage.  An  interesting  feature 
of  the  performance  was  the  dancing  of  a  woman  said  to 
have  the  smallest  feet  to  be  found  in  China.  They 
really  were  but  about  three  inches  long,  being  little  more 
than  soft  hoof's,  still  she  danced  airily,  and  was  sur- 
prisingly light  and  graceful  in  her  movements. 

Before  ending  his  Shanghai  season,  my  master  ac- 
companied his  friend  Riley,  of  the  Grand  Central  Ho- 
tel, on  a  pie  tsant  shooting  trip  up  the  Yang-tse-Kiang 
to  Shantung.  A  shooting  trip  up  the  u  Grand  Canal" 
in  a  houseboat  from  Shanghai,  is  the  acme  of  luxurious 
sport,  The  boat  is  just  as  comfortable  as  a  house,  and, 
in  Far  Eastern  fashion,  supplied  with  every  possible 
comfort  and  luxury.  During  the  night  the  coolies 
walk  along  the  bank  towing  the  boat,  and  when  your 
"  boy"  calls  you  at  daylight,  you  find  yourself  in  the 
midst  of  "preserves,"  which  extend  for  scores  and 
scores  of  miles  into  the  country  devastated  during  the 
Taeping  revolution,  and  which  is  still  desolate.  Game 
of  all  sorts  abounds,  however,  and  just  putting  on  over- 
boots  and  a  solar  topee,  one  can  jump  on  shore  and 
"walk  up"  ten  or  fifteen  brace  of  birds  and,  perhaps, 
a  deer,  before  the  butler  is  heard  calling  from  the  boat 


86  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

for  breakfast.  Then  back  you  come,  take  a  dip  in  the 
canal,  get  a  fresh  suit  of  pajamas,  and  sit  down  to  bat- 
tle with  a  gigantic  appetite.  The  middle  of  the  day  is 
too  hot  for  shooting,  and,  besides,  the  birds  lie 
close  ;  but  towards  four  o'clock  you  l-egin  work  again 
and  continue  till  dusk,  and  dinner,  afterwards  pipes  and 
whist  and  numerous  B's  and  S's,  and  to  bed  early  so  as 
to  be  "fit"'  the  following  morning.  Whilst  you  are 
asleep  the  coolies  tow  the  boat  a  few  miles  further  up 
the  canal,  so  that  you  have  fresh  ground  each  day. 
When  you  get  back  to  Shanghai,  after  a  week's  ab- 
sence, you  have  a  boat  load  of  "  fijjies"  and  other 
game,  and  have  had  a  royal  time. 

My  master  is  an  excellent  "  snap  "  shot,  and  con- 
tributed his  quota  to  each  day's  bag.  It  seems  rather 
odd  that,  considering  the  apparent  "  hard-up-ness  "  of 
the  inhabitants  and  the  terrible  strait  to  which  every 
failure  in  the  rice  crop  reduces  them,  they  should  not 
avail  themselves  of  all  this  enormous  supply  of  game 
at  their  very  doors.  But  "  these  'ere  haythen  is  a  queer 
lot,"  as  the  celebrated  Mr.  Corney  Delaney  observed, 
and  if  they  don't  know  any  better  than  to  live  on 
"  swampseed  "  and  the  interiors  of  fowls,  when  they 
might  have  roast  pheasant  every  day  if  they  would 
take  the  trouble,  it  is  nobody's  fault  but  their  own. 


88  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

AT   THE  COURT   OF   AVA. 

From  Shanghai  my  master  and  Ling  Look  went  to 
Foochow  and  Amoy  and  thence  to  Hong  Kong.  Ya- 
madeva  died  on  the  way,  and  his  remains  were  buried 
in  the  "Happy  Valley,"  the  European  Cemetery  of 
Hong  Kong  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  burial  places 
in  the  world.  Soon  after  reaching  Hong  Kong,  Ling 
Look  became  sick  and  had  to  go  to  the  hospital.  My 
master  played  in  Theatre  Royal  and  had  a  very  suc- 
sessful  season.  After  finishing  his  engagement  there,  he 
was  induced  to  give  a  performance  at  the  Polok  (Chi- 
nese) theater.  He  had  a  crowded  house,  and  not  a 
few  mandarins  of  prominence  were  in  the  audience. 
When  a  committee  was  required  for  the  rope-tying 
test,  Kellar  induced  two  mandarins  to  come  upon 
the  stage  to  put  the  rope  on  him.  They  were  quite 
skillful  in  the  tying,  but  before  allowing  my  master  to 
go  into  the  cabinet  one  of  them  stooped  over  to*  take  a 
last  and  closer  look  at  the  knot,  while  he  was  in  this 
position  the  other  mandarin  picked  up  a  tambourine 
that  was  lying  near,  and  with  it  hit  his  stooping  com- 
panion a  sharp  rap  on  the  back.  Then  with  a  face  of 
blank,  child-like  innocence,  such  as  only  a  Chinaman 
can  assume,  he  quickly  passed  the  tambourine  behind 
his  own  back,  and  stood  holding  it  there  as  quietly  and 
unconcernedly  as  if  asleep.  As  soon  as  he  felt  the 
blow,  the  stooping  mandarin  popped  up. his  head  and 
looked  around  in  surprise.  Noting  the  blank  look  of 
his  comrade,  knowing  that  Kellar  could  not  have 
dealt  the  blow,  and  seeing  that  there  was  no  one  else 
on  the  stage,  the  Chinaman's  knees  began  to  smite  each 


AT  THE  COURT  OF  AVA.  89 

other,  his  jaw  fell,  and  with  a  screech  of  terror  he  ran 
from  the  theater,  while  the  audience,  which  was  in  the 
secret,  fairly  screamed  with  laughter.  But  their  laugh- 
ter did  not  last  long.  The  magician  had  no  sooner  taken 
his  place  in  the  empty  cabinet  than  musical  instruments 
began  to  clatter,  hands  appeared,  and  such  other  evi- 
dences of  supernatural  presence  were  given,  that  the 
audience  almost  to  a  man  rushed  from  the  theater 
shouting  frantically,  some  of  them  screaming  in  "-pid- 
gin" English,  "He  belong  Debillo!"  It  was  useless  to 
attempt  to  get  them  back.  They  had  seen  enough. 
If  my  master  had  been  a  veritable  demon  with  a  forked 
tail,  cloven  feet  and  a  breath  of  flame,  their  fright  could 
not  have  been  greater. 

After  this  engagement  two  of  the  Chinese  committee- 
men  visited  my  master,  dropping  their  pigtails  in  token 
of  respect  as  they  appeared  before  him.  They  pre- 
sented him  with  two  ten-pound  cases  of  the  choicest 
•Chinese  tea,  such  as  is  worth  in  China  upward  of  $4 
per  pound,  and  is  only  drank  by  the  high  mandarins. 
Accompanying  the  tea.  was  a  note  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  a  copy: 

"To  our  very  clear  friend  Mr.  Kellar.  Hoping  he 
will  accept  this  with  a  smile." 

My  master  took  the  tea  on  board  the  American  ship 
Great  Admiral,  from  Boston,  drank  some  of  it  with  the 
Captain  and  his  wife,  and  gave  the  rest  to  them.  It 
had  a  delightful  aroma,  and  was  to  other  tea  what  the 
best  Havana  cigar  is  to  one  made  of  cabbage  leaves 
stained  with  tobacco  juice. 

Having  lost  his  two  companions,  my  master  took  Mr. 
John  Hodgkins  as  his  assistant.  They  went  over  to 
Macao,  a  Portuguese  settlement  forty  miles  distant,  and 
played"  in  the  Club  Theatre.  While  at  Macao,  Kel- 
lar visited  the  famous  grotto  where  Camoens  wrote  the 
Luciad,  a  grand  poem  in  praise  of  Portugal,  the  coun- 
try from  which  he  was  an  exile. 

The  next  stopping  place  was  Manila,  to  reach  which 


90  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Kellar  crossed  the  China  Sea  on  the  little  steamer 
Esmeralda,  encountering  a  terrific  hurricane  on  the 
way.  A  great  earthquake  occurred  the  day  after  his 
arrival.  Prominent  churches  were  destroyed,  and 
many  public  buildings  were  ruined.  The  insig- 
nificance of  human  power,  when  compared  with 
the  forces  of  nature,  was  very  strongly  impressed  upon 
my  master  by  the  event.  He  opened  at  the  Teatro 
Espanol,  and  found  to  his  delight  that  the  earthquake 
did  not  interfere  with  his  business.  He  was  surprised 
to  see  the  number  of  Chinamen  at  Manila  who  have 
become  Catholics,  but  that  was  only  until  he  knew  that 
in  no  other  way  could  they  arrive  at  a  dignity  which 
would  permit  them  to  marry  or  do  business  in  that 
city. 

From  Manila  we  took  a  trip  to  Ilo-Tlo,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  islands  in  the  world,  and  the  gem  of  the 
Philippine  group.  Thence  we  returned  to  Singapore 
and  to  Penang  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca,  and  afterward 
across  to  Moulmain  in  Burmah,  whence  we  took  a 
steamer  to  Rangoon,  where  we  performed  in  the  Can- 
tonment Theater,  half  way  between  the  town  proper 
and  the  Great  Pagoda. 

The  Magician  received  an  invitation  from  the  King, 
through  his  agent,  to  visit  him  at  the  Court  of  Ava, 
and  appear  before  his  Majesty  and  the  royal  princes 
and  nobles  at  the  capital.  We  embarked  on  a  small 
steamer,  and  after  traveling  up  the  Irrawaddy,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  700  miles,  arrived  at  Mandalay,  where 
we  were  met  by  an  escort  of  priests  and  nobles,  and, 
mounted  on  elephants,  were  conducted  through  long 
rows  of  bamboo  houses,  carved  temples,  and  gold  cov- 
ered Pagodas  to  the  royal  palace  of  Ava.  We  passed 
through  a  gate,  and  were  detained  in  an  outer  court 
where  we  were  ordered  to  remove  our  shoes  and  await 
the  pleasure  of  his  Majesty.  After  waiting  there  for 
nearly  an  hour,  we  were  informed  that  we  could  pro- 
ceed and  arrange  the  apparatus,  which  had  been  sent 


AT   THE   COtlRT  OF  AVA, 


^  ROYAL   PALACE,   MANDALAY. 

in  previously.  Then  we  were  conducted  through  two 
moru  rooms,  and  then  entered  the  grand  audience 
chamber,  in  one  end  of  which  a  rude  stage  had  been 
erected  for  our  use.  At  the  other  end  was  a  high  ele- 
vation, on  which  were  placed  a  number  of  screens  of 
lattice  work,  from  behind  which  persons  could  see,  but 
could  not  be  seen.  After  all  the  arrangements  for  the 
performance  were  complete,  my  master  still  had  to  wait 
an  hour  before  the  interpreter  announced  that  his 
Majesty  was  ready  to  have  the  entertainment  proceed. 
The  King  and  the  ladies  of  the  royal  household  were 
behind  the  screens,  and  the  performer  could  not  get  a 
glimpse  at  them.  When  the  King  was  announced,  the 
aobles  prostrated  themselves  before  the  screens  until 
their  faces  touched  the  ground,  and  they  remained  in 
that  position  until  the  master  of  ceremonies  gave  » 
signal  for  them  to  about  face,  when  they  turned  their 
faces  towards  the* stage,  but  were  still  on  their  hands 


92  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

and  knees,  and  so  stayed  during  the  entire  perform- 
ance. We  were  ordered  to  prostrate  ourselves,  but 
when  we  explained  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  us 
to  give  our  performance  in  that  position,  we  were  gra- 
ciously permitted  to  retain  an  upright  posture.  When 
the  performance  was  over,  we  were  informed  that  His 
Majesty  was  so  highly  delighted  with  the  entertain- 
ment that  he  would  honor  us  by  allowing  us  to  look 
upon  his  countenance.  The  center  screen  was  drawn 
aside,  and  we  beheld  his  Majesty  reclining  on  a  satin 
couch.  A  number  of  white  silk  umbrellas  were  spread 
out  above  him.  He  is  the  only  person  in  the  kingdom 
who  is  allowed  a  white  umbrella.  It  is  the  emblem  of 
royalty.  The  quality  of  parasols  ranges  from  white 
satin  through  all  grades  of  gold,  half  gold,  green  silk, 
yellow  silk,  etc.,  to  cotton;  the  umbrella  in  Burmah 
denotes  the  rank  of  the  owner. 

The  King,  with  a  sort  of  grunting,  harsh  voice,  con- 
versed with  us  through  the  interpreter.  He  desired 
that  we  should  make  our  home  in  the  capitaj.  He 
would  appoint  my  master  conjuror  to  the  Lord  of  the 
White  Elephant.  He  should  have  every  luxury  he  de- 
sired, and  finally  when  all  of  his  tempting  offers  had 
been  declined,  he  demanded  that  Kellar  leave  his 
apparatus  at  the  Court,  and  impart  its  mysterious 
power  to  one  of  his  own  subjects.  This,  my  master 
explained,  would  be  an  impossibility,  as  the  good  genii 
who  aided  him  would  not  care  to  transfer  their  services 
to  others,  and  besides,  they  wouk1  be  very  angry  if  the 
Magician's  plans  were  interfered  with.  All  of  this,  of 
course,  I  in  my  character  of  junior  devil,  most  cordially 
approved  and  endorsed.  This  seemed  to  impress  his 
Majesty,  and  he  made  my  master  promise  to  give  an- 
other performance  at  the  capital  before  he  returned  to 
his  own  country. 

We  were  then  permitted  to  see  the  sacred  White 
Elephant,  a  huge  beast  not  nearly  as  white  as  Bar- 
num's.  He  was  inclosed  in  a  magnificent  room.  His 


AT   THE   COURT   OF   AVA.  93 

food  was  served  on  silver  plates ;  his  water  trough  was 
lined  with  gold,  and  his  body  was  covered  with  the 
richest  cloth  of  gold  and  satin.  My  master  and  his  as- 
sistants passed  the  remainder  of  the  day  roaming  about 
the  city.  At  night  they  had  very  comfortable  quarters 
assigned  them  at  the  palace,  where  they  slept  on  mats, 
Burmese  fashion.  The  next  day  they  performed  again 
before  the  ro}ral  household,  and  on  the  following  day 
they  intended  to  return  to  Rangoon  by  steamer,  but 
the  king  gave  positive  orders  not  to  allow  them  to  leave 
the  capital.  As  the  steamers  left  only  once  every  ten 
days,  they  became  alarmed  lest  the  king  might  take 
some  other  notion  into  his  head  before  the  ten  days 
were  over.  But  all  their  threats  and  prayers  were  in 
vain,  and  they  were  compelled  to  remain,  as  the  king 
would  not  allow  them  '^o  remove  their  luggage  from 
the  palace.  They  were  treated  like  princes  during 
their  sojourn  in  the  city,  and  besides  having  all  their 
expenses  paid,  the  king  made  them  a  present  of  5,000 
rupees  (about  $2,500).  When  the  day  carno  for  the 
next  steamer  to  sail,  they  were  reluctantly  permitted 
to  depart,  and  then  only  after  much  pleading  and 
through  the  kind  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walsh,  an 
American  missionary.  Even  then  my  master  was  forced 
to  leave  his  cabinet  as  security  that  he  would  return 
at  an  early  date.  He  says  he  intends  some  day  to 
redeem  that  cabinet. 

Coming  down  the  river  we  passed  through  the  petro- 
leum district,  and  the  steamer  took  on  a  cargo  of  oil 
which  was  veiy  abundant.  Both  sides  of  the  river 
were  studded  with  native  towns,  and  in  each  could  be 
seen  a  gold-covered  pagoda,  giving  additional  charm  to 
a  picture  that  was  as  strange  as  it  was  beautiful.  We 
breathed  more  freely  when  we  were  once  more  safely 
landed  at  Rangoon,  under  the  protection  of  the  English 
flag,  which,  next  to  the  glorious  stars  and  stripes,  my 
master  believes  to  be  the  most  cheering  sight  an  Amer- 
ican can  see  abroad. 


94  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   SPIRITUALIST   EXCITEMENT. 

While  at  Monemein  we  watched  with  very  much 
interest  the  work  of  a  number  of  elephants  employed 
about  a  saw  mill.  The  sagacity  of  these  animals  was 
wonderful.  The  one  tending  the  saw  would  throw 
the  slabs  and  bad  lumber  to  one  side  on  a  rub- 
bish pile,  and  lay  each  perfect  piece  of  lumber  as 
smoothly  and  evenly  in  its  place  as  if  guided  by  human 
intelligence.  In  many  places,  while  on  our  Indian  tour, 
we  saw  elephants  doing  work  which  it  would  seem 
could  only  have  been  performed  by  a  reasoning  animal. 
After  making  profitable  visits  to  Rangoon  and  Akayab, 
my  master  and  I  went  to  Calcutta,  and  opened  at  the 
Chowringbee  Theatre,  on  the  evening  of  December  30, 
1877.  During  our  stay  we  appeared  before  the 
Viceroy,  Lord  Lytton,  and  a  great  number  of  other  not- 
ables, including  the  Nizam  of  Secundrabad  ;  Sir  Salar 
Jung,  Prime  Minister  of  the  Nizam  ;  the  Marajah  of 
Scinde  ;  and  the  Marajah  of  Jeypore.  Kellar  was 
most  cordially  welcomed  by  the  newspapers,  as  well  as 
by  the  people  of  Calcutta.  The  Indian  Daily  Neivs  said  : 
"  During  the  past  twenty-five  years  we  have  witnessed 
most  of  the  entertainments  of  this  class  given  in  Eng- 
land and  throughout  Europe,  and  we  can  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  Mr.  Kellar  in  his  illustrations 
of  the  high  art  of  prestidigitation  has  never  been  sur- 
passed." The  Englishman  characterized  the  perform- 
ance as  "  wonderful  and  most  entertaining,"  while 
The  Statesman  declared  that  "  whoever  visits  the 
really  wonderful  performance  will  get  fully  his  money's 
worth  of  pleasure  and  surprise." 


THE  SPIRITUALIST   EXCITEMENT.  95 

In  Calcutta,  as  elsewhere,  my  master  publicly  chal- 
lenged the  "  mediums  "  to  produce  at  any  one  of  their 
seances  a  single  wonder  that  he  could  not  reproduce 
on  the  stage  as  a  trick,  and  to  make  the  matter  inter- 
esting, he  proposed  to  hand  $ 200  to  some  charity  of 
the  city  in  case  of  failure.  The  Calcutta  papers  took 
the  challenge  up  and  called  on  the  "  mediums  "  in  the 
community  to  show  how  real  a  thing  Spiritualism  was. 
As  a  result,  the  following  correspondence  took  place  : 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Englishman.  SIR:  I  beg  to  state 
that  I  have  visited  the  performances  of  the  Royal  Illusion- 
ists every  night  they  have  performed  at  the  Theatre  Royal, 
and  advised  my  friends  who  have  not  seen  them  to  go  like- 
wise. I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  their  clever  burlesque 
of  the  Davenport  seance  ;  first,  because  their  imitations 
were  well  done  ;  and  secondly  because  as  is  well  known 
to  all  spiritualists,  the  lower  phenomena  of  rope-tying  have 
formed  a  portion  of  the  stock-in-trade  of  the  leading  pro- 
fessors of  the  magic  art  for  years.  Spiritualism  does  not 
rest  its  sure  foundations  on  such  phenomena.  That  phase, 
and  it  is  a  phase,  has  been  proved  in  my  own  circle  by  our 
private  medium  in  the  abnormal  shape,  having  been  tied  in 
all  sorts  of  ways  by  his  guides,  is  simply  one  of  the  stepping 
stones  toward  the  door  of  the  temple  of  knowledge  beyond, 
and  can  be  successfully  imitated,  as  all  the  lower  or  similar 
phenomena  can,  by  any  clever  conjurer  who  may  make  it 
his  study.  A  rather  singular  admission,  however,  was  made 
by  Mr.  Kellar  last  evening  (if  I  understood  him  properly) 
namely,  that  he  traveled  with  the  Davenports  for  years, 
assisted  them  in  the  cabinet,  and  knew  all  their  secrets  and 
tricks.  Mr.  Kellar  did  not  say  whether  as  a  professed  me- 
dium or  conjuror.  But  it  does  not  follow  because  the 
seance  a-la-Davenport  can  be  imitated,  it  is  not  genuine. 
In  the  early  history  of  the  celebrated  brothers  they  were 
well  known  as  spiritual  mediums,  whatever  they  may  now 
pass  for;  and  I  am  by  no  means  satisfied  that  what  I  have 
witnessed  on  several  occasions  at  the  entertainments  of  the 
Illusionists  is  really  the  same  phenomena  that  I  witnessed 
through  the  Davenports,  though  it  resembles  it  so  closely 
as  to  pass  muster  with  the  audience  generally.  Last  even- 


96  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

ing  there  were  jubilant  remarks  made  that  "  Spiritualism 
was  now  exposed;"  but  such  logic  was  sadly  at  fault,  as  it 
does  not  necessarily  follow  that  a  thing  may  not  be  genuine 
because  it  can  be  successfully  imitated.  The  Egyptian 
magicians  performed  the  miracles  of  Moses,  but  on  that  ac- 
count were  the  latter  false?  But  to  return  to  what  I  began. 
I  was  well  pleased  to  be  a  quiet  witness  of  all  that  passed, 
until  I  heard  Mr.  Kellar  make  a  statement  respecting  Mr. 
Foster,  the  great  spiritual  medium.  Mr.  Kellar  said  that  he 
would  do  all  the  tricks  performed  by  spiritual  mediums,  in- 
cluding those  of  Mr.  Foster,  after  having  witnessed  them 
three  times.  He  threw  down  the  challenge  to  them  all. 
Though  I  am  not  a  medium  or  a  spiritualist,  I  am  deeply 
interested,  and  therefore  accept  Mr.  Kellar's  challenge.  I 
ask  him  to  perform  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  audience  and 
to  mine,  this  "  trick,"  which  the  late  Dr.  Ashburner  relates 
in  his  work  entitled  "  Animal  Magnetism  and  Spiritualism  " 

ne  323)  as  having  been  done  by  Mr.  Foster  in  London. 
t  is  as  follows  :  "  Sir  William  Jopham,  with  the 
concurrence  of  Foster,  fixed  an  early  hour  for  dinner. 
There  were  only  the  three  of  us  at  the  dinner  table.  The 
servant  placed  the  soup  tureen  on  the  table.  No  sooner 
had  I  helped  my  friends  to  soup  than  Sir  William,  who 
had  preferred  the  seat  with  his  back  to  the  fire,  requested 
permission  to  alter  his  mind  as  t!  e  fire  was  too  much  for 
him.  He  went  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  table,  forgetting 
to  take  his  napkin  with  him.  Immediately  a  hand,  as  real 
as  the  hand  of  any  of  us,  appeared  and  lifted  the  napkin 
into  the  air  gently  and  gracefully,  and  then  dropped  it 
carefully  on  the  table.  Almost  simultaneously,  and  while 
we  were  still  engaged  over  our  soup,  one  side  of  the  rining 
table  was  lifted  up  by  some  unseen  power,  and  the 
moderator  lamp  did  not  fall  from  its  place  on  the  center  of 
the  table.  The  decanters,  salt  cellars,  wine  glasses,  knives 
and  forks,  water  carafes,  and  tumblers  all  remained  in  their 
places,  although  the  top  of  the  table  sloped  to  very  nearly 
an  angle  of  45  degrees.  There  was  a  wonderful  conversa- 
tion of  my  glass,  china  and  lamp.  The  servant,  who  was 
waiting  on  us,  stared  and  lifted  up  both  his  arms,  exclaim- 
ing, 'Law,  well  I  never  !'  And  the  next  moment  he  cried 
out,  *  Do  look  at  the  pictures,'  which,  with  their  ten  heavy 


THE  SPIRITUALIST  EXCITEMENT.  97 

frames  had  appeared  to  strive  how  far  they  could  quit  the 
wall  and  endeavor  to  reach  the  dinner  table."  Dr  Ash- 
burner,  who  was  a  man  of  high  standing  in  his  profession, 
goes  on  to  say,  "  The  appearance  of  hands  is  by  no  means 
an  unusual  phenomenon  One  evening  I  witnessed  the 
appearance  of  nine  hands  floating  over  the  dining  table." 
Now  since  Mr.  Kellar  took  occasion  to  go  out  of  his  way 
to  throw  a  shaft  at  Mr.  Foster  and  other  spiritual  mediums, 
1  hereby  challenge  him  to  produce  at  his  illusion  such 
detached  hands  as  thosa  which  appeared  through  Mr. 
Foster's  mediumship,  over  the  dinner  table  of  Dr  Ash- 
burner  in  London.  Since  Mr.  Kellar  does  his  clever 
conjuring  tricks  in  the  light,  let  him  do  these  if  he  can. 
For  instance,  one  of  these  detached  hands  might  be  sent  to 
catch  the  canary  which  he  allowed  to  escape  into  the  body 
of  the  theatre.  If  he  cannot  do  this,  I  will  call  on  him  to 
withdraw  what  he  said  of  Mr.  Fostej  and  others. 

In  conclusion  I  may  add,  that  I  consider  the  Royal 
Illusionists  very  clever,  and  recommend  all  to  go  and  see 
them.  As  for  the  adverse  expression  of  opinion  respecting 
spiritualism  or  its  mediums,  on  their  part  or  by  any  portion 
of  their  audience,  I  care  very  little.  I  know  it  to  be  true; 
have  faithfully  and  patiently  investigated  its  evidences 
both  in  and  out  of  the  circle,  for  many  years,  and  proved 
them  true.  GEORGE  DALE  DONALDSON. 

Calcutta,  January  5,  1878. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Englishman.  Sir  :  In  reply  to 
the  letter  of  George  Dale  Donaldson,  published  in  your 
issue  of  this  morning,  I  beg  to  say  that  the  gentleman's 
interpretation  of  my  challenges  to  mediums  is  not  correct. 
He  requests  me  to  reproduce  certain  experiments  men- 
tioned in  Dr  Ashburner's  work,  entitled  "  Spiritualism  and 
Animal  Magnetism."  My  challenge  to  mediums  is  this  :  I 
unequivocally  and  without  reservation  pronounce  the  so- 
called  phenomena  of  spiritualism  a  humbug,  and  denounce 
all  mediums  as  frauds.  I  hereby  agree  to  wager  the  sum 
of  Rs.  1000  or  more,  that  I  can  fully,  completely  and  satis- 
factorily perform  and  expose  any  manifestations  of  so-called 
spirit-power  which  I  am  permitted  to  witness  three  times. 
I  have  often  attended  Mr.  Foster's  seances,  but  I  have 
never  seen  him  do  any  such  wonderful  tricks  as  ascribed 
7 


98  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

to  him  in  the  work  of  Dr.  Ashburner.  If  Mr.  Donaldson 
can  produce  any  medium  who  will  cause  detached  hands  to 
appear,  such  as  are  noted  in  his  letter  of  to-day,  I  will  give 
Rs.  2000  to  any  charitable  institution  in  this  city  if  I  can- 
not reproduce  the  same  results.  I  will  conclude  by  saying, 
that  when  persons  set  themselves  up  as  mediums,  pro- 
fessionally or  otherwise,  and  lead  people  to  believe  that 
they  are  bringing  before  them  facts  proving  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  they  are  doing  a  very  solemn  thing 
indeed,  and  the  person  who  would  for  gain  trifle  with  the 
most  sacred  feelings  of  our  nature  by  pretending  to  do 
this,  while  all  the  time  he  is  only  carrying  on  an  elaborate 
scheme  of  deception,  is  beneath  contempt,  and  ought  to  be 
held  up  to  the  scorn  of  every  honest  man  in  the  community. 
I  consider  it  a  duty  to  expose  such  frauds,  and  discourage 
them  in  their  nefarious  works. 

HARRY  KELLAR, 

Illusionist. 
Theatre  Royal,  Calcutta,  January  8,  1878. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Englishman.  SIR  :  I  thought 
the  absurd  statement  of  Mr.  Kellar  at  the  Theatre  Royal, 
the  other  evening,  respecting  the  tricks  of  spiritual  medi- 
ums and  what  he  could  do,  were  but  empty  chaff  ;  his  con- 
duct with  reference  to  my  letter  of  yesterday  confirms  me  in 
that  opinion.  Last  evening  he  again  repeated  his  remarks 
regarding  mediums;  but,  instead  of  performing  the  trick 
which  one  of  these  despised  mediums  is  reputed,  on  the  best 
authority,  to  have  done  in  London,  he  shuffled  out  of  it  by 
throwing  out  a  ridiculous  challenge,  which  he  very  well 
knew  he  was  safe  in  doing,  as  in  this  part  of  the  world  no 
such  powerful  medium  is  known  to  exist,  and  therefore 
could  not  be  accepted.  But  Mr.  Kellar,  who  said  he  knew 
all  the  noted  American  mediums,  and  could  do  all  their 
tricks,  surely  ought  to  have  kept  his  word  when  I  chal- 
lenged him  to  perform  that  of  Foster's,  as  recorded  in  my 
letter.  When  a  noted  juggler  like  Mr.  Kellar  asperses  the 
characters  of  thousands  of  honorable  spiritual  mediums 
(both  men  and  women),  as  he  had  done  before  a  public 
audience  and  in  his  letter  of  this  morning,  he  ought  to  be 
able  to  prove  his  assertions.  And  in  what  better  way  could 
he  have  done  this  than  by  doing  what  I  asked  him  to  do  ? 


THE  SPIRITUALIST   EXCITEMENT.  99 

It  is  evident,  notwithstanding  his  cleverness  as  a  conjurer, 
he  knows  no  more  of  the  nature  of  spiritual  phenomena 
than  a  great  many  who  go  to  laugh  at  his  so-called  expos- 
ures. His  burlesque  of  the  Davenport  seance  is  but  a  sorry 
one;  it  is  true  that  it  resembles  that  of  the  famous  brothers 
in  many  respects. 

That  the  Davenports  were  genuine  spiritual  mediums  I 
firmly  believe*  I  regret  that  mixing  with  the  world  in 
their  travels  has  tended  to  demoralize  them;  but  whether 
their  manifestations  are  now  supplemented  by  ordinary 
conjuring  or  not,  I  know  that  formerly  they  were  genuine 
mediums,  and,  as  such,  were  recognized  by  all  classes  in 
the  Old  and  New  Worlds. 

To  simplify  matters  between  Mr.  Kellar  and  myself,  I 
shall  forego  my  challenge  to  him  about  the  spirit  hands, 
and  only  ask  him  to  allow  one  of  the  committee  to  enter 
the  cabinet  with  him,  and  then  cause  the  instruments  to 
play,  the  same  as  was  the  case  in  the  famous  seance  of  the 
Davenport  Brothers. 

I  await  his  acceptance  of  this  challenge,  yes  or  no,  in 
plain  terms.  I  shall  be  present,  on  Saturday  evening,  and 
Mr.  Kellar  can  then  give  his  consent  to  the  above  from  the 
stage.  GEORGE  DALE  DONALDSON. 

January  9,  1878. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Englishman.  SIR:  It  is  a  matter 
of  regret  to  me  that  I  have  again  to  notice  the  latest  pro- 
duction of  Mr.  Donaldson.  For  the  sake  of  brevity  I  will 
pass  by  his  abusive  and  offensively  personal  remarks  on 
myself,  and  proceed  to  deal  with  the  point  of  his  letter.  I 
will  allow  Mr.  Donaldson,  or  any  gentleman  of  his  own 
choosing,  to  come  upon  the  stage  on  Saturday;  I  will  also 
have  some  gentleman  from  the  audience  (not  a  spiritualist) 
who  attended  one  of  the  Davenport  seances;  I  will  do  all 
that  the  Davenports  did  under  similar  conditions;  I  will 
^.llovv  Mr.  Donaldson  to  enter  the  cabinet  with  me.  I  have 
fully  explained  the  Davenport  seance  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  every  intelligent  person  who  has  seen  the  per- 
formances of  the  famous  brothers,  at  the  seance  we  present 
nightly  at  the  Theatre  Royal. 

I  look  forward  with  interest  to  Saturday,  and  hope  to  see 


100  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

the  amount  of  Mr.  D's  wager  handed  over  to  some  charity, 
and  trust  that  he  will  afterwards,  like  his  friends,  the 
Davenports,  drop  the  spiritualistic  theory,  and  admit  that  it 
is  only  a  miserable  burlesque  on  the  movements  of  a  higher 
development  of  which  we  know  very  little,  and  which 
ignorance  will  not  be  done  away  with  until  our  spirits  join 
the  spirit  land  beyond  the  grave;  and  then,  I  trust,  our 
power  of  perception  will  increase,  our  faculties  will  be 
ennobled,  our  employment  will  be  higher,  and  we  shall  find 
other  and.  more  exalted  work  than  shifting  knives,  forks  and 
glasses,  or  even  pictures,  for  our  "  untabernacled  spirits." 

HARRY  KELLAR. 
CALCUTTA,  January  10,  1878. 

When  the  evening  for  the  test  arrived,  the  crowd 
in  the  theater  was  so  great  that,  although  many  extra 
chairs  were  placed  in  the  orchestra  stalls,  large  num- 
bers of  people  could  not  gain  admittance.  Concerning 
this  performance  the  Englishman  of  January  14,  1878, 
said :  "  The  chief  attraction  of  the  evening,  however, 
was  the  entertainment,  in  the  course  of  which  the 
tricks  of  so-called  mediums  were  exposed.  Three  gen- 
tlemen formed  a  committee,  and  Kellar,  having 
been  securely  tied  with  ropes  for  the  cabinet  trick,  Mr. 
George  Dale  Donaldson  was  expected  to  come  on  the 
stage,  but  he  did  not  enter  an  appearance,  although 
loudly  called  for  by  the  audience  in  every  part  of  the 
house.  It  was  amusing  to  see  everywhere  gentlemen 
on  the  tip-toe  of  expectation,  turning  to  the  nearest 
person,  with  whom  he  was  unacquainted,  in  the  hope 
that  he  was  the  man.  George  Dale,  however,  was, 
like  ihe  spirits  he  believes  in,  invisible,  and  although 
he  was  again  called  for,  when  Mr.  Kellar,  in  the  full 
blaze  of  gas  light,  untied  the  knots  with  which  he  was 
bound,  and  exposed  the  4  Fay '  seance,  he  did  not 
think  it  prudent  to  show  his  face.  But  the  entertain- 
ment was  none  the  less  an  agreeable  surprise  to  those 
who  had  not  witnessed  it  before,  while  those  who  had 
were  as  mightily  perplexed  to  find  out  how  it  was 
done.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  performance,  Mr. 


See  page  116. 


102  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Kellar  intimated,  for  the  information  of  G.  D.  D.  and 
his  fellow  believers  in  4  Spiritualism,'  that  he  was 
willing  to  stand  by  the  terms  of  his  challenge,  and 
meet  them  at  any  appointed  time  for  the  purpose  in- 
dicated in  these  columns.  Here  is  an  opportunity  for 
mediums  and  believers,  of  which  they  should  not  be 
slow  of  availing  themselves." 

When  the  Magician's  challenge  had  failed  to  bring  a 
defender  of  spiritualism  to  the  point  of  attempting  to 
tie  him  in  public,  it  had  the  effect  of  bringing  a  pro- 
fessor of  knot-mak'ng  to  the  front,  as  the  following 
correspondence  shows : 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Indian  Daily  News.  SIR  :  See- 
ing lately  several  letters  passing  between  Mr.  George  D. 
Donaldson  and  Mr.  Kellar,  of  the  Royal  Illusionists,  and 
the  former  not  turning  up  on  Saturday  to  make  his  chal- 
lenge good,  T  now  beg  to  propose  to  Mr.  Kellar  that  he 
allow  me  to  tie  him  in  a  similar  manner  as  the  famous  Dav- 
enport Brothers  were  tied  in  Liverpool  some  years  ago,  and 
out  of  which  they  found  it  impossible  to  extricate  them- 
selves. 1  name  Friday  evening  next  as  the  appointed  time, 
and  if  Mr.  Kellar  accepts  my  challenge  through  your  paper, 
I  shall  be  there  without  fail. 

Yours,  etc.,  W.  T.  HART, 

Comdr.  Ship  Compta. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Indian  Daily  News.  SIR  :  In 
reply  to  Captain  Hart's  challenge,  which  appeared  in  your 
issue  of  this  morning,  and  in  which  he  proposes  to  tie  me 
"in  a  similar  manner  as  the  Davenport  Brothers  were  tied 
in  Liverpool  some  years  ago,  and  01 'it  of 'which  they  found  it 
impossible  to  extricate  themselves"  1  beg  to  say  that  I  ac- 
cept Captain  Hart's  challenge  unconditionally,  the  trial  of 
skill  to  take  place  at  the  Theatre  Royal,  Chowringhee,  on 
Friday  evening  next.  I  will  allow  Captain  Hart  to  tie  me 
to  his  own  satisfaction,  and  I  will  release  myself  in  less  time 
than  he  will  occupy  in  tying  me  ;  if  I  can  not  do  this,  I  will 
publicly  acknowledge  my  defeat.  As  Captain  Hart  is  one 
of  the  gentlemen  who  formed  the  committee  that  tied  the 


THE   SPIRITUALIST  EXCITEMENT.  103 

famous  mediums  in  Liverpool,  I  shall  be  prepared  to  meet 
with  some  extraordinary  rope-tying  on  Friday  evening. 
Yours,  etc.,  HARKY  KELLAR, 

Royal  Illusionist. 
CALCUTTA,  15th  January,  1878." 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Indian  Daily  News.  SIR  :  I 
have  noted  Mr.  Kellar's  acceptance  of  my  challenge.  I  will 
be  at  the  Theatre  Royal  Friday  evening,  and  will  tie  Mr. 
Kellar  in  such  a  manner  that  I  feel  convinced  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  him  to  release  .himself. 

Ypurs,  etc.,  W.  T.  HART, 

Comdr.  Ship  Compta. 

Captain  Hart  was  not  the  man  to  confine  his  efforts 
to  the  columns  of  the  newspapers.  He  meant  what  he 
said,  and  he  confidently  believed  that  he  could  tie 
Kellar  as  effectually  as  he  had  helped  to  tie  the  Dav- 
enport Brothers.  How  he  fared  in  his  attempt  is  thus 
told  by  the  Englishman  of  January  21,  1878 : 

"  After  the  usual  exhibition  of  Mr.  Kellar's  unrivaled 
skill  at  legerdemain,  the  cabinet  seance  was  introduced, 
Mr.  Kellar  releasing  himself  almost  instantaneously  from  a 
rope  artfully  tied  by  a  practiced  nautical  man,  and  drawn 
so  tightly  as  to  cut  the  wrist.  Mr.  Kellar  subsequently  re- 
tied  himself  in  the  brief  space  of  three  seconds.  This  busi- 
ness having  been  gone  through,  Captain  Hart  was  invited 
to  try  his  skill,  and,  having  rejected  the  rope  previously 
used,  was  allowed  to  operate  with  a  much  thinner  one  of  his 
own.  The  tying  was  of  a  complicated  character,  involving 
Mr.  Kellar's  neck  as  well  as  his  arms,  and  occupied  some 
time.  The  cabinet  doors  being  closed,  there  was  a  pause, 
and  some  people  thought  they  observed  an  expression  of 
triumph  on  Captain  Hart's  face.  Any  confidence  he  may 
have  felt  in  the  result,  however,  was  of  short  duration,  for 
soon  the  sound  of  a  loose  rope  was  distinctly  heard,  and  in 
forty  seconds  from  the  closing  of  the  cabinet  Mr.  Kellar 
emerged  a  free  man,  with  the  untied  rope  in  his  hand,  amid 
the  enthusiastic  applause  of  the'audience." 

Captain  Hart,  with  the  hearty,  straightforward  hon- 


104 

esty  of  the  typical  sailor,  acknowledged  his  defeat  in  a 
letter,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy : 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Indian  Daily  N"ews.  SIR  :  I  con- 
sider it  but  i'air  on  ray  part  and  justice  to  Mr.  Harry  Kellar, 
that  I  should  publicly  acknowledge,  through  the  columns 
of  the  press,  my  inability  to  securely  tie  Mr.  Kellar  last  Fri- 
day evening,  at  the  Theatre  Royal,  although  he  submitted 
to  be  tied  in  a  most  complicated  manner  ;  in  fact,  by  the 
only  known  knots  that  most  effectually  puzzled  the  Daven- 
port Brothers  in  Liverpool  a  few  years  a<re.  After  almost 
an  hour's  struggle  they  found  it  impossible  to  free  them- 
selves; but  Mr.  Kellar  was  only  forty  seconds  in  accomplish- 
ing what  I,  and  all  who  witnessed  it,  consider  a  grand 
triumph.  In  fact,  the  applause  that  greeted  Mr.  Kellar  on 
emerging  from  the  cabinet  free  testified  that  fact,  and  was 
as  gratifying  to  me  as  it  must  have  been  to  the  great  illu- 
sionist. Yours,  etc.,  W.  T.  HART, 

Com  dr.  Ship  Compta. 

It  can  well  be  imagined  that  the  Magician's  success 
added  to  his  already  very  high  reputation.  His  skill  was 
the  talk  of  Calcutta,  and  his  entertainments  drew 
crowded  audiences  of  the  best  people.  The  Indian 
Charivari  of  February  1,  1878,  voiced  the  popular 
feeling  very  neatly,  in  a  half-page  cartoon,  which  was 
intended  to  show  a  bond  from  which  the  Magician  could 
not  free  himself.  Kellar  was  represented  as  stand- 
ing on  his  stage  with  two  beautiful  ladies,  each  of  whom 
had  one  of  his  hands  clasped  in  both  of  hers.  Beneath 
the  cartoon  was  the  following : 

"  KELLAR   VANQUISHED. 

"After  the  masculine  Hart's  failure  to  bind  Mr.  Kellar, 
Charivari  would  suggest  a  trial  of  feminine  H(e)arts,  with 
the  utmost  confidence  that  the  great  illusionist  would  be 
powerless  to  free  himself." 

Before  leaving  Calcutta,  Kellar  gave  a  benefit 
for  the  children  of  indigent  Freemasons,  netting  about 
900  rupees,  and  he  also  joined  with  other  artists  in  giv- 
ing a  benefit  to  John  Flynn,  an  injured  member  of 


Itf  THE  PUNJAITB.  105 

"Wilson's  Great  World  Circus,"  which  was  then  in 
that  city.  On  another  occasion  he  appeared  at  the 
Corinthian  Theatre  in  'a  benefit  to  Mr.  J.  C.  Fuell,  who, 
on  account  of  continued  ill  health,  had  been  ordered 
home  to  England.  Whenever  my  master  appeared  at 
a  benefit  of  this  kind  he  was  forced  to  close  his  the- 
atre for  the  night,  but  it  has  ever  been  a  pleasure  for 
him  to  contribute  his  services  to  meritorious  objects, 
and  he  has  regularly  made  it  a  point  not  to  allow  his 
selfish  interests  to  interfere  with  his  duty  to  others. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

IN  THE   PTJNJAUB. 

From  Calcutta  the  Royal  Illusionists  proceeded  to 
Allahabad,  and  on  this  trip  had  a  practical  demonstra- 
tion of  the  deadly  character  of  the  cobra's  bite.  This 
snake  is  common  in  India,  despite  the  efforts  made  to 
exterminate  it.  Among  the  passengers  on  the  train 
was  a  handsome  young  lady  of  apparently  good  estate, 
as  she  traveled  first-class.  She  had  no  sooner  retired 
to  her  berth  than  she  gave  a  piercing  shriek  and  sprang 
to  the  floor  of  the  car.  A  cobra,  hidden  among  the 
coverings,  had  bitten  her  on  the  arm.  The  injured 
member  had  soon  swollen  to  twice  its  natural  size,  her 
face  became  puffed  beyond  recognition,  and  she  died 
after  suffering  terrible  agony  for  about  three  hours. 
The  snake  had  probably  crept  into  the  berth  to  keep 
warm.  Although  at  most  times  the  temperature  in 
India  is  uncomfortably  high,  in  the  cold  season 
strangers,  as  well  as  snakes,  feel  the  necessity  of  plenty 
of  covering.  Kellar  always  provided  himself  with 
plenty  of  thick  clothing  on  such  occasions,  and  the 
wisdom  of  his  course  was  frequently  made  manifest. 

There  are  a  number  of  features  peculiar  to  railroad 


106  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

travel  in  India.  Four  classes  of  tickets  are  sold,  and 
the  accommodation  varies  accordingly.  The  first  pas- 
sengers have  the  use  of  a  regular  bath  room  in  one  end 
of  their  car,  and  but  four  people  are  put  in  one  com- 
partment. The  second-class  fare  is  one-half  the  first- 
class,  and  the  conveniences  are  considerably  restricted. 
Passengers  of  both  of  these  classes,  however,  have 
comfortable  sleeping  rooms  at  their  disposal  without 
extra  charge.  The  third- class  travelers  pay  one-half  as 
much  as  second-class  patrons,  and  the  fourth-class  are 
carried  for  one-half  of  what  it  costs  the  third-class  to 
travel,  but  they  are  herded  into  the  cars  like  cattle. 

While  on  the  way  to  Allahabad,  tbe  train  stopped  at 
Benares  Junction,  and  my  master's  companion,  Mr. 
Hodgkins,  asked  one  of  the  natives  at  the  station  for  a 
glass  of  water.  Now  Hindoos  believe  the  touch  of  a 
no-caste  man  is  defiling,  no  matter  what  his  position 
may  be,  and  their  custom,  when  gi\ing  a  foreigner  a 
drink,  is  to  pour  the  water  into  his  mouth.  In  this  case 
the  native  was  leisurely  proceeding  in  the  orthodox 
style,  when  the  impulsive  and  impatient  Hodgkins 
seized  the  earthen  cup,  drank  in  the  natural  way  before 
the  astonished  Hindoo  could  prevent  him  from  doing 
so,  and  then  handed  back  the  empty  vessel.  The  na- 
tive in  anger  dashed  the  cup  to  the  ground,  breaking 
it  into  a  dozen  fragments,  and  serious  trouble  appeared 
imminent.  ''.'  The  magic  influence  of  the  rupee,  however, 
avoided  bloodshed. 

At  Allahabad  we  appeared  at  the  Railway  Theatre. 
One  of  the  novel  experiences  of  our  stay  in  this  town 
was  the  hideous  wailing  of  jackalls  and  hyenas  in  the 
streets  at  night.  These  animals  are  useful  as  scaven- 
gers, but  to  the  stranger  they  seem  like  evil  spirits,  so 
much  do  their  cries  resemble  the  voice  of  a  human  be- 
ing i\i  distress. 

From  Allahabad  the  Illusionists  went  to  Lucknow, 
where  they  had  additional  proof  that  in  India  caste 
is  everything.  The  man  who  sweeps  your  room  will 


IN  THE  PCTNJAUB.  107 

not  take  an  empty  cup  from  your  hand ;  your  groom 
will  not  cut  a  little  grass;  a  coolie  would  carry  any 
load,  however  offensive,  on  his  head,  but,  even  in  a 
matter  of  life  and  death,  would  refuse  to  carry  a  man, 
for  that  is  the  business  of  another  caste.  Whether  it 
be  Brahmin  or  Sudra,  a  priest  in  a  temple,  or  a  ryot  in 
a  field,  the  highest  or  the  lowest,  each  has  his  pecu- 
liar duties,  and  to  those  only  will  he  devote  himself. 
Even  the  excommunicated  or  outcast  pariahs,  form 
castes  among  themselves.  There  are  grades  even  of 
misery.  But  strict  as  the  Hindoos  are  among  them- 
selves in  the  matter  of  caste,  they  are,  if  possible,  even 
more  strict  in  their  relations  with  the  outside  world. 
Even  a  beggar  on  the  street  feels  himself  superior  to 
the  no-caste  foreigner  of  whom  he  solicits  alms. 

While  in  Lucknow  we  played  in  the  (Jhuddermunzil 
Club  Theatre.  The  season  was  a  remarkable  one,  and 
my  master's  fame  penetrated  to  every  hut  in  the  city. 
When  leaving  the  theater  one  day  with  his  assistant, 
he  saw  a  party  of  Hindoos  eating  chow  in  the  shade  of 
the  building.  The  shadow  of  the  assistant  fell  on 
one  of  the  dishes,  and  immediately  the  party  was  in  a 
state  of  angry  excitement.  To  be  threatened  by  ryots 
was  not  an  unusual  occurrence  in  the  case  of  Europeans 
unused  to  their  ways,  but  on  this  occasion  the  Hindoos 
seemed  frantic.  They  smashed  the  dishes  on  which 
the  polluting  shadow  had  fallen,  and  then  made  a  rush 
for  Kellar's  trembling  assistant.  Now  it  so  hap- 
pened that  some  of  the  party  had  seen  my  master  on 
the  stage,  and  as  the  Magician  sprang  forward  to  pro- 
tect his  friend  he  was  recognized.  Instantly  there  was 
a  shout  of  warning  that  it  was  the  Nautch-  Wallah,  and 
the  entire  crowd  prostrated  themselves,  mumbling 
what  was  evidently  a  prayer  for  protection.  A  moment 
later  they  were  slinking  away,  hiding  themselves  be- 
hind dakh  yharrys  (bullock  carts),  and  glancing  over 
their  shoulders  to  see  that  the  Magician  was  not  about 
to  call  down  the  powers  of  darkness  upon  them.  Like 


108  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

all  ignorant  people  the  Hindoos  are  very  superstitious, 
and,  although  their  native  jugglers  do  wonderful  things 
with  snakes  and  baskets  and  the  like,  they  could  not 
understand  how  such  marvels  as  Kellar  performed 
were  within  the  power  of  a  man  who  claims  no  assist- 
ance from  the  spirit  world. 

From  Lucknow  we  went  on  to  Delhi.  The  intention 
had  been  to  give  an  exhibition  in  the  Town  Hall,  and 
after  much  difficulty  we  succeeded  in  engaging  it.  We 
engaged  a  native  to  stick  posters  in  every  available 
place.  After  the  work  was  done  the  Chief  of  Police 
(Hamilton)  sent  an  order  commanding  that  every  bit 
of  paper  should  be  torn  down,  and  the  surfaces  to 
which  it  had  been  stuck  washed  clean.  The  prospects 
for  a  good  house  were  not  very  encouraging,  but 
my  master  had  been  making  a  great  deal  of  money, 
and  he  felt  independent.  He  accordingly  packed  his 
apparatus  and  prepared  to  leave  the  place.  At  the 
railroad  station  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Chief  of  Police, 
telling  him  he  could  take  his  coolies  and  tear  down 
the  paper  at  his  leisure.  Of  course  the  Dehli  papers 
got  hold  of  the  story,  and  they  poked  a  great  deal  of 
fun  at  the  cranky  official,  who  was  himself  forced  to 
see  to  the  scrubbing  of  the  dead  walls,  while  Kel- 
lar "  folded  his  tents  like  the  Arabs  and  silently  stole 
away." 

At  Agra  the  Magiciati  visited  the  celebrated  Moti 
Masjid,  or  Pearl  Mosque,  said  to  be  the  most  elegant 
mosque  of  Indian  Mohammedan  architecture.  It  meas- 
ures 235  feet  east  and  west,  by  190  feet  north  and 
south,  and  the  court-yard  is  155  feet  square.  The 
building  is  raised  on  a  terrace,  and  is  almost  entirely 
composed  of  white  marble.  But  Agra  is  even  more 
famous  for  the  Taj-Mahal,  a  splendid  mausoleum,  built 
by  the  Emperor  Shah  Jahan,  for  the  remains  of  his 
favorite  wife,  Mumtaza  Mahal.  The  building  is  of 
white  marble,  with  four  tall  minarets  of  the  same  ma- 
terial, one  at  each  corner.  The  enclosure,  including 


110  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

the  gardens  and  outer  courts,  is  a  parallelogram  of  1,860 
feet  by  more  than  1,000  feet.  The  tomb  stands  on  a 
raised  platform  18  feet  high,  faced  with  white  marble, 
and  is  exactly  813  feet  square.  The  building  is  an 
early  example  of  that  system  of  inlaying  with  precious 
stones,  which  became  characteristic  of  the  style  of  the 
Moguls  after  the  death  of  Akbar.  All  the  spandrills 
of  the  Taj,  all  the  angles  and  more  important  architect- 
ural details,  are  heightened  by  being  inlaid  with 
precious  stones,  such  as  agates,  bloodstones,  jaspers 
and  the  like.  These  are  combined  in  wreaths,  scrolls 
and  frets,  as  exquisite  in  color  as  they  are  beautiful. 
It  is  said  that  20,000  workmen  worked  steadily  for 
twenty-two  years  to  complete  the  structure. 

After  a  visit  to  Cawnpore,  Kellar  went  to  Jey- 
pore,  where  he  visited  the  Rajah's  palace  and  witnessed 
a  grand  fete.  Elephants  were  dressed  in  rich  housings, 
and  there  was  an  almost  dizzying  amount  of  barbaric 
pomp  and  splendor  connected  with  the  proceedings. 
At  Benares  my  master  visited  the  famous  monkey 
temple,  the  Doorgha  Kond,  which,  although  ostensibly 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  Goddess  Doorgha,  is  in 
reality  the  dwelling  of  swarms  of  large  yellow  monkeys 
which  overrun  a  quarter  of  the  city.  They  are  main- 
tained and  carefully  tended  by  the  Brahmins,  who 
imagine  them  to  possess  certain  holy  attributes.  These 
monkeys  are  very  mischievous,  but  to  kill,  or  even 
maltreat  one  would  be  very  likely  to  result  in  the 
death  of  the  person  so  offending.  At  Cawnpore  and 
also  at  Delhi,  as  well  as  at  other  places  in  India,  my 
master  saw  large  numbers  of  these  protected  monkeys. 
As  this  visit  was  made  during  what  is  the  winter  season 
in  that  country,  the  monkeys  were  usually  seen  hud- 
dled together  in  an  effort  to  keep  warm. 


IN  BOMBAY.  Ill 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IN  BOMBAY. 

All  of  the  prominent  towns  of  the  Punjaub  were  visit- 
ed by  the  Illusionists,  and  business  was  generally 
good.  On  the  14th  of  February,  1878,  they  opened  at 
the  Framjee  Cowasjee  Institute,  in  Bombay,  and  speed- 
ily created  a  sensation.  The  Illusionists  took  part  in  a 
grand  testimonial  to  Mr.  John  Wilson  (of  the  Great 
World  Circus)  "  under  the  patronage  and  in  the  imme- 
diate presence  of  Sir  Richard  Temple,  the  Governor, 
and  suite,"  as  the  Bombay  newspapers  expressed  it. 
The  season  in  Bombay  would  have  been  exceptionally 
pleasant  but  for  the  Parsee  owner  of  the  Institute 
where  the  performances  were  given.  He  was  a  con- 
scienceless creature,  with  a  perfect  genius  for  extortion. 
The  curtain  was  extra,  the  lamps  were  extra,  the  oil  in 
the  lamps  was  extra,  and  so  it  went.  When  the  Illu- 
sionists were  ready  to  leave,  the  Parsee  discovered  a 
blotched  place  in  one  of  the  planks  in  the  stage,  and  he 
wanted  my  master  to  partially  rebuild  the  theater  be- 
cause of  it.  The  impulsive  Mr.  Hodgkins  at  this  point 
once  more  came  to  the  front,  and  kicked  the  grasping 
landlord  to  the  bottom  of  the  stairs.  Of  course  this 
was  illegal,  and  also,  of  course,  the  Parsee  was  not  slow 
in  getting  out  a  warrant  for  Mr.  Hodgkins'  arrest;  but 
Kellar  took  good  care  to*  see  that  his  companion 
did  not  fall  into  the  way  of  the  officers,  and  so  the  Par- 
see  nursed  his  wrath,  and  his  covetousness  and  his 
sores,  and  got  no  salve  for  either. 

On  the  whole,  my  master  has  not  such  an  exalted 
opinion  of  the  Parsees  as  a  good  many  other  people  en- 
tertain. Their  mode  of  treating  dead  bodies  of  their 


112  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

caste  disgusted  him.  They  build  tall  towers,  with 
a  grating  over  the  top,  and  on  this  grating  the  bodies 
of  their  dead  are  laid.  Vultures  and  the  elements 
remove  the  flesh,  and  the  bones  tumble  through  the 
grating  into  the  hollow  interior  of  the  tower.  Often  a 
bird  flying  over  the  city  with  a  piece  of  Parsee  flesh  in 
his  mouth  drops  a  portion  of  the  carrion,  and  as  the 
flight  of  these  scavengers  is  frequently  over  the  Mala- 
bar Hill,  where  the  city  reservoir  is  located,  the  water 
is  often  polluted  by  this  filth.  While  my  master  was 
there,  the  Government  was  seriously  considering  the 
project  of  roofing  the  reservoir  to  protect  the  water 
from  such  contamination. 

We  put  up  at  the  Bycullah  Hotel  while  in  Bombay, 
and  were  very  much  amused  by  the  sagacity  displayed 
by  the  myriads  of  crows  with  which  the  city  swarms. 
The  crows  are  protected  by  law,  and  they  seem  to 
know  it,  but  they  do  not  presume  too  much  on  the 
fact.  It  is  like  catching  a  weasel  asleep  to  outwit  one 
of  them.  And  yet  they  were  very  bold.  Sometimes  in 
the  early  morning  at  Chota-hazra,  if  the  window  was 
open,  scarcely  a  moment  would  elapse  before  a  crow 
would  be  on  the  sill,  and  with  many  a  hesitating  step 
and  wise  look  the  bird  would  edge  up  to  the  coveted 
toast  and  with  a  dash  would  seize  it  and  fly  cawing  to 
his  comrades  outside.  There  were  always  scores  of 
crows  in  the  trees  about  the  hotel,  and  often  my  master 
would  throw  pieces  of  bread  toward  them.  In  every 
instance  a  crow  would  dart  from  his  perch,  and,  getting 
under  the  falling  fragment,  catch  it  in  his  beak  before 
it  could  reach  the  ground.  A  friend  induced  my 
master  to  tie  a  long,  but  very  fine,  thread  to  a  piece  of 
meat  and  throw  it  with  a  number  of  other  pieces  of 
meat  to  the  ground.  Not  a  crow  offered  to  touch  the 
dainty  morsels.  At  length  they  began  to  fly  about 
them,  then  they  alighted  near  the  meat,  and  soon  every 
piece,  except  the  one  to  which  the  thread  was  tied, 
was  eaten  up.  A  servant  of  the  hotel  once  set  a  trap 


IN   BOMBAY.  113 

for  a  rat,  and  a  dishcloth  blew  from  a  neighboring  bush 
and  covered  the  trap.  A  foolish  crow  put  his  foot 
on  the  cloth  and  was  caught.  Instantly  there  was  the 
wildest  excitement  in  the  crow  colony,  and  as  soon  as 
the  victim  had  been  released  from  the  trap,  his  com- 
panions set  on  him  and  pecked  and  pounded  him  to 
death.  Theft,  and  even  murders  seem  to  be  winked  at 
by  Bombay  crows,  but  stupidity  is  a  crime  they  will  not 
condone. 

The  native  town  of  Bombay  literally  swarms  with 
people,  and  their  peculiarities  excite  much  wonder  and 
surprise  in  the  minds  of  strangers.  They  will  not  kill 
any  animal,  and  they  carry  their  tenderness  so  far  as 
not  only  to  scatter  rice  for  the  birds,  but  to  sprinkle 
sugar  near  the  ant  hills  for  the  benefit  of  those  indus- 
trious little  toilers.  It  is  the  custom  in  India  for  cer- 
tain classes  to  burn  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  and  every 
day  during  our  stay  in  Bombay,  we  saw  numbers  of 
naked  bodies  of  the  dead  carried  through  the  town  to 
the  burning  ghat,  where  they  were  either  wholly  or 
partially  consumed  before  being  thrown  into  the  water. 
The  Parsees,  whose  custom  in  this  as  in  many  other 
respects  differs  from  that  of  the  Mohammedans,  have  a 
bitter  feud  with  the  latter,  and  the  result  is  that  the 
police  have  often  to  interfere  to  protect  them. 

Of  course  we  visited  the  famous  Caves  of  Elephanta, 
in  the  Bay  of  Bombay,  and  marveled  much  at  their 
wonderful  peculiarities.  But  the  time  came  all  toe? 
soon  when  we  had^to  bid  adieu  to  India.  The  parting 
seemed  to  be  regretted  by  the  people  as  well  as  by  my 
master.  According  to  the  Bombay  G-azette,  he  gave  his 
last  entertainment  "  to  a  house  crowded  from  floor  to 
ceiling,  and  long  before  the  advertised  time  for  com- 
mencing, not  even  standing  room  could  be  had  for 
money.  The  audience  was  composed  of  the  elite  of 
the  city." 


114  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  JUGGLERS   OF   INDIA. 

Naturally  on  his  first  visit  to  India  Kellar  was 
curious  to  see  something  of  the  famous  jugglers,  of 
whom  travelers  have  told  such  marvelous  tales.  He 
went  out  of  his  way  to  meet  any  famous  performer 
who  could  only  be  reached  in  that  manner,  and  the  re- 
sult was  that  between  the  time  he  landed  at  Calcutta 
and  the  time  he  embarked  at  Bombay,  he  had  witnessed 
about  everything  of  note  in  the  juggling  line  that  the 
country  afforded.  The  opinion  he  formed,  after  seeing 
all  they  could  show  him,  was  that,  apart  from  their 
skill  as  snake  charmers,  in  the  basket  trick,  and  one  or 
two  other  illusions,  the  ability  of  the  entire  fraternity 
of  Indian  jugglers  is  beneath  contempt. 

He  had  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  "  wonderful 
mango  trick,"  in  which  the  native  jugglers  were  said 
to  plant  a  mango  seed  in  the  earth,  whence  it  would 
be  seen  to  sprout  and  gradually  grow  into  a  full  sized 
mango  tree,  blossom  and  ripen  fruit  in  full  view  of  the 
spectators.  It  was  further  declared  that  the  fruit 
would  be  handed  around  to  whomsoever  cared  to  taste 
of  it.  Stories  to  this  effect  had  been  told  by  so  many 
travelers  of  repute,  that  Kellar  really  expected  to 
find  some  merit  in  the  trick.  At  Allahabad,  Cawnpore, 
Lucknow,  Delhi  and  Bombay  he  saw  native  jugglers 
who  did  the  mango  trick,  and  each  time  they  performed 
it  precisely  as  follows :  The  fakirs,  usually  about  five 
or  six  in  number,  would  squat  on  the  ground,  and  the 
spokesman  would  ask  the  spectators  to  select  a  spot  of 
earth  on  which  they  desired  the  trick  to  be  performed. 
This  being  done  he  would  pick  up  the  earth  with  a 


THE  JUGGLERS  OF  INDIA.  115 

small  pointed  instrument  in  order  to  make  a  soft  spot; 
then  putting  up  a  skeleton  frame  of  tripod  shape,  he 
would  throw  a  shawl  or  cloth  over  it  so  as  to  make  a 
sort  of  tent.  One  of  the  conjurers,  wearing  a  long 
robe,  with  wide  sleeves,  would  then  produce  a  mango 
seed,  and  placing  both  hands  and  arms  under  the 
improvised  tent,  would  plant  the  seed,  his  hands  and 
arms  being  out  of  sight  under  the  tent  during  the 
operation.  His  comrades  would  then  perform  some 
simple  tricks  with  cups  and  balls,  etc.,  after  which 
the  cover  over  the  tripod  would  be  removed,  and  a 
small  sprout  would  be  seen  in  the  side  of  the  mango 
seed.  When  the  cover  was  again  thrown  over  the 
tripod  the  fellow  with  the  long  sleeves  would  once 
more  put  his  arms  under  the  tent  so  formed.  After 
another  interval  of  three  or  four  minutes  the  cover 
would  be  again  removed,  and  there  would  be  seen  a 
branch  of  a  mango  tree  about  two  feet  high,  bearing  a 
few  mangoes,  some  green  and  others  ripe.  The  latter 
would  be  plucked  and  distributed  among  the  spectators. 
The  secret  of  this  trick  is  so  shallow  that  it  hardly 
merits  explanation.  The  man  who  placed  his  hands 
under  the  cover  first  inserted  the  sprout  in  the  seed, 
and  the  next  time  he  drew  from  his  ample  sleeve  a 
branch  cut  from  a  neighboring  mango  tree,  and  thrust 
the  cut  end  into  the  earth,  which  had  previously  been 
softened.  At  Allahabad  the  branch  with  the  fruit 
toppled  over,  showing,  instead  of  roots,  the  cut  end  of 
the  limb,  and  thus  was  dispelled  forever  one  of  the 
illusions  that  had  caused  my  master  to  marvel  much, 
when  reading  about  the  wonders  of  Hindoo  magicians. 
Most  of  the  wonders  attributed  to  Oriental  jugglers 
have  never  existed  anywhere  outside  of  the  imagina- 
tions of  those  who  tell  them.  The  writers  who  declare 
that  they  have  seen  such  impossible  feats  performed, 
as  throwing  a  ball  of  twine  in  the  air  to  form  a  sort  of 
Jack-and-the-bean-stalk,  up  which  the  juggler  climbed 
out  of  sight,  pulling  the  string  after  him,  and  that  the 


116  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

pistol  shot  of  a  companion  conjurer  brought  the  aerial 
climber  to  the  earth  in  fragments,  which,  when 
brought  together,  became  a  living,  uninjured  man 
again,  must  have  had  their  brains  steeped  in  hash- 
eesh. 

The  feats  of  snake  charming,  however,  are  marvel- 
ous, and,  if  tricks,  they  utterly  defy  detection.  In 
speaking  of  an  experience  with  the  snake  charmer  at 
Allahabad,  my  master  says:  "  A  fellow  came  into  my 
room  with  nothing  but  a  breech  clout,  and  said, 
4  Plenty  big  snake  here,  Sahib.  Plenty  big  snake  in 
room.'  I  told  him  to  go  off;  that  I'd  seen  all  his 
snake  tricks,  and  did  not  want  to  be  bothered,  but  he 
insisted  upon  it  that  there  were  plenty  of  snakes  in  the 
room,  so  I  told  him  he  could  come  in  and  call  them 
out  if  he  wanted  to.  He  stood  up  in  the  middle  of 
the  floor  and  began  to  play  on  a  sort  of  flute  he  had 
with  him.  Now  mind  you,  there  was  no  furniture  in 
the  apartment  but  a  cot  bed  and  two  or  three  chairs. 
He  had  not  played  two  minutes  before  I  saw  the  sheet 
on  the  bed  rise  up  till  it  looked  like  a  small  tent,  and  then 
an  enormous  cobra  crawled  out  and  coiled  itself  on  the 
floor,  with  its  head  erect  and  its  tongue  darting  out  in 
anger.  In  an  instant  I  saw  other  serpents  approaching 
from  the  corners  of  the  apartment,  and  they  placed 
themselves  alongside  of  their  companion.  The  fakir, 
still  playing  on  his  flute,  led  the  way  to  the  door,  and 
the  snakes  followed  him.  He  paused  on  the  threshold, 
and  they  reared  their  heads  and  hissed  at  him  in  anger. 
Just  as  I  was  beginning  to  get  nervous,  another  fakir 
crept  up  behind  him  and  cut  their  heads  off  with  a 
sharp  sword  which  he  carried.  I  could  learn  nothing 
about  this  trick,  if  it  was  a  trick." 

In  many  other  instances  we  saw  marvels  performed 
with  snakes,  and  were  also  greatly  pleased  with  the 
basket  trick,  of  which  much  has  been  written,  and  of 
which  the  secret  had  been  well  kept.  When  he  found 
a  juggler  who  made  a  specialty  of  this  trick,  my  mas- 


FOREST   SCENE,    ISLAND   OF   MAURITIUS. 


11? 


See  page  180 


118  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

ter  watched  him  closely,  and  this  is  what  he  saw. 
Having  explained  to  the  small  company  what  he  pro- 
posed to  do,  the  juggler  allowed  them  to  select  a  spot 
on  the  turf  in  the  open  air  where  the  trick  should  be 
performed.  Here  he  stationed  himself  with  a  basket, 
with  a  hinged  lid,  at  his  feet,  a  little  boy  at  his  side 
and  a  sharp  sword  in  one  hand.  He  wore  nothing  but 
a  breech  clout.  The  company  surrounded  the  con- 
jurer in  a  circle  so  close  that  there  was  no  possibility 
for  any  person  to  pass  it  without  detection.  The  jug- 
gler placed  the  child  in  the  basket,  closed  the  lid,  and 
began  muttering  a  seeming  incantation.  While  still 
praying  he  wove  a  large  white  cloth  about  his  arm, 
arid  suddenly  threw  it  over  the  basket,  binding  one 
end.  He  then  drew  the  cloth  towards  him,  brought  it 
up  around  his  waist  and  tucked  the  end  in  his  clout, 
leaving  a  portion  to  hang  down  in  front  in  graceful 
folds.  This  much  done,  he  plunged  the  sword  through 
the  basket.  As  the  child's  agonizing  cries  were  heard, 
the  man  drew  back  the  sword  all  dripping  with  blood. 
Again  and  again  was  the  sword  thrust  into  the  basket, 
the  child's  heart-rending  screams  growing  fainter  and 
fainter  until  they  ceased  altogether.  The  juggler  asked 
that  the  basket  be  examined.  It  was  opened  and 
found  to  be  empty.  A  gleeful  shout  was  heard.  The 
company  looked  in  the  direction  from  whence  it 
came,  and  there  sat  the  juggler's  child  on  the  limb  of  a 
small  tree  waving  his  arms  and  seeming  as  happy  as  a 
bird.  Kellar  paid  the  juggler  two  rupees  (one 
dollar)  and  the  secret  of  the  trick  was  explained  to 
him.  He  marveled  at  first  that  the  man  was  willing 
to  explain  the  mystery  for'  so  small  a  sum,  but  he  soon 
discovered  that  only  those  who  wore  the  Indian  jug- 
gler's costume,  the  breech  clout,  could  perform  it. 
The  trick  is  done  in  this  way:  The  child  is  well  trained. 
After  he  is  placed  in  the  basket,  he  watches  his  oppor- 
tunity, and  when  the  juggler  spreads  the  cloth, 
the  youngster  slips  from  his  hiding  place,  under 


THE  JUGGLERS   OF  INDIA.  119 

the  cover  of  the  cloth,  crawls  under  the  jug- 
gler, grasps  a  strap  about  the  man's  waist,  and 
draws  himself  up  between  the  juggler's  legs. 
The  cloth  when  brought  about  the  man's  waist 
hides  the  little  fellow,  who,  from  his  unsuspected  re- 
treat, utters  the  piercing  shrieks  of  the  dying  child. 
With  a  sponge  saturated  with  a  red  liquid  the  juggler 
produces  the  blood  stains.  When  the  spectators  rush 
forward  to  look  into  the  basket,  the  boy  slips  from  his 
place  of  concealment  and  makes  his  presence  manifest 
wherever  he  has  been  directed  to  go. 

Another  trick  which  interested  Kellar  was  per- 
formed by  a  fakir,  whose  outfit  was  a  bowl  of  muddy 
water.  He  began  operations  by  sprinkling  some  of  the 
water  on  the  ground,  and  then  setting  the  bowl  down  on 
the  dampened  place.  He  would  then  put  a  small  artifi- 
cial duck  in  the  water  of  the  bowl.  As  soon  as  the  duck 
was  relieved  from  the  fakir's  hand,  it  would  disappear 
under  water.  The  fakir  would  squat  a  couple  of  feet 
or  so  from  the  bowl,  and  pound  on  a  tom-tom,  or  small 
drum.  Suddenly  the  duck  would  appear  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  in  the  bowl,  but  when  a  stranger's 
hand  approached  it,  down  it  would  go,  and  so,  to  the 
monotonous  pounding  of  the  drum,  the  bird  would 
swim  or  dive  as  if  alive.  The  secret  of  this  trick  is 
simple.  The  bottom  of  the  bowl  was  pierced  with  a 
small  hole,  through  which  a  horse  hair  was  passed. 
The  end  of  the  hair  within  the  bowl  was  attached  to 
an  imitation  duck  lighter  than  water.  The  other  end 
of  the  hair  was  held  by  the  fakir.  The  water  sprinkled 
on  the  ground  was  to  hide  that  which  dripped  through 
the  hole  in  the  bowl.  All  being  ready,  and  the  light 
duck  being  hidden  beneath  the  muddy  water,  a  heavy 
duck  was  placed  in  the  bowl,  and  of  course  imme- 
diately sank  out  of  sight.  A  slacking  of  the  horse 
hair  caused  the  light  duck  to  appear  whenever  the  fa- 
kir so  desired,  and  a  pull  on  the  hair  promptly  took  it 
out  of  sight.  The  pounding  of  the  tom-tom  served  as 


120 

a  blind  for  any  movement  the  fakir's  hand  might 
make. 

A  very  good  trick  was  performed  with  half  a  dozen 
colors  of  powdered  sugar,  white,  black,  red,  yellow,  green 
and  blue.  The  fakir  would  take  a  small  spoonful  of  each 
color  in  his  mouth,  one  after  the  other,  and  chew  and 
swallow  them.  Then  at  the  call  of  his  audience  he 
would  blow  any  one  of  the  colors  from  his  mouth  in  a 
cloud.  To  do  this  trick  the  juggler  had  previously  pre- 
pared six  small  capsules,  each  one  containing  a  quantity 
of  sugar  of  a  particular  color.  These  capsules  were 
concealed  in  his  mouth,  three  in  either  cheek.  The 
sugar  he  seemed  to  eat  was  really  swallowed.  When 
any  color  was  called  for  he  would  simply  work  the  cap- 
sule containing  that  variety  to  the  tip  of  his  tongue, 
break  the  case  with  his  teeth,  and  puff  the  dry  sugar 
into  the  air  before  his  astonished  patrons. 

In  a  few  instances  Kellar  saw  a  juggler  throw  a 
quantity  of  sand  into  a  bucket  of  water,  and  take  it 
out  as  dry  as  if  from  an  oven.  In  these  cases  the  sand 
had  been  prepared  by  sifting  it  into  a  certain  kind  of 
melted  wax,  which  gave  an  invisible  and  waterproof 
coating  to  each  particle. 

But  the  ordinary  tricks  of  these  world-famed  conjurers 
were  greatly  inferior  to  those  exhibited  by  the  common 
sleight-of-hand  performers,  that  visit  fairs  in  Europe 
and  America.  The  tricks  already  described  are  the 
only  ones  Kellar  saw  in  India  which  are  worth  the 
mentioning. 


IN  AFEICA. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

IN   AFRICA. 

From  Bombay  we  moved  northward  to  Kurachee 
and  to  Bassarah  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  thence  by  a 
small  side  wheel  river  steamer  up  the  Tigris  to  the  far- 
famed  city  of  Bagdad.  The  steamer  was  covered 
around  the  cabin  with  plates  of  heavy  sheet  iron  as  a 
protection  against  the  attacks  of  roving  bands  of  rob- 
bers, who  had  a  short  time  previously  fired  into  the 
steamer  from  the  river's  bank.  Instead  of  the  glorious 
city  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  we  found  nearly  all  of  the 
large  palaces  and  temples  in  ruins.  The  houses  were 
low  one  and  two  story  buildings,  with  the  usual  Ori- 
ental court  yard  in  the  center.  There  seems  to  be 
considerable  trade  going  on,  however,  as  the  bazars 
were  crowded  with  a  motley  throng  of  humanity,  com- 
prising Arabs,  Jews,  Christians,  Turks,  Armenians, 
and  a  variety  of  other  nationalities,  all  clad  in  the  gar- 
ments peculiar  to  their  countries,  and  using  the  lan- 
guage of  their  homes  as  far  as  possible.  Much  of  the 
business  of  the  city  is  conducted  at  little  stands  in  the 
streets.  There  were  then  a  few  English  merchants  at 
Bagdad,  and  they  seemed  to  be  prosperous.  The  city 
contains  a  splendid  arsenal,  which  is  under  the  super- 
intendence of  British  officers.  In  fact,  it  is  difficult 
anywhere  throughout  the  East  to  find  a  spot  where 
the  British  have  not  found  their  way. 

Bagdad  reminds  one  much  of  Alexandria  and  Cairo. 
Hundreds  of  donkeys  crowded  the  narrow  streets,  and 
camels  are  to  be  seen  everywhere.  The  natives  are 
kindly  and  hospitable,  but  all  have  a  languid,  don't- 
care-a-cent-if-school-keeps-or-not  sort  of  air.  An 


122  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

English  merchant,  a  Mr.  Williams,  entertained  my 
master  and  his  companion  very  kindly. 

There  is  a  great  wealth  of  interesting  ruins  in  Bag- 
dad. On  the  top  of  one  large  tower  was  an  enormous 
stork's  nest,  which  had  been  visited  by  the  storks  for 
many  years,  they  always  returning  to  their  old  haunt 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nesting  season.  The  weather 
in  Bagdad  was  so  hot  that  it  required  some  nerve  to 
go  into  the  street  between  the  hours  of  10  a.  m.  and  4 
p.  m.,  and  as  there  was  no  suitable  place  in  the  city  in 
which  to  give  a  performance,  my  master  was  forced  to 
be  content  to  be  simply  a  looker-on  there.  But 
he  had  no  cause  to  regret  that  he  had  visited  the  fa- 
mous city  of  the  Caliphs.  From  Bagdad  he  returned 
to  Bassarah,  where  he  took  the  B.  I.  S.  S.  Co.'s  steamer 
for  Aden,  and  in  that  city  we  had  to  wait  two  weeks 
for  a  steamer  on  which  to  proceed  to  Zanzibar. 
While  in  Aden,  Kellar  gave  a  performance  at  the 
hotel.  The  British  Admiral  then  commanding  the 
East  India  station,  furnished  awnings,  lumber  for  a 
stage,  and  men  to  put  it  up,  as  well  as  the  band  of  his 
flag  ship  for  an  orchestra.  The  Admiral  not  only 
would  not  accept  any  free  passes  for  the  entertain- 
ment, but  he  insisted  on  buying  whole  rows  of  seats  for 
himself  and  friends. 

From  Aden,  the  Illusionists  proceeded  down  the 
east  coast  of  Africa,  and  made  their  first  stop  at  Zan- 
zibar. The  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  is  wise  after  the  man- 
ner of  absolute  monarchs.  He  hasn't  much  of  a  king- 
dom, but  he  makes  the  most  of  it,  and  he  rivals  Solo- 
mon himself  in  the  size  of  his  harem.  Of  course  His 
Imperial  Effulgence  is  dusky  in  hue  ;  that  is  a  South 
African  peculiarity.  But  for  all  that  he  was  educated 
in  Europe,  and  with  the  languages  and  culture  of  that 
quarter  of  the  world  he  also  acquired  a  fancy  for  its 
women.  French  girls  fill  his  harem,  and  rumor  says 
there  are  five  hundred  there.  However  that  may  be, 


IN   AFRICA.  123 

there  is  a  small  army  of  them,  and  they  are  kept  hid- 
den from  eyes  profane. 

The  Sultan  had  heard  of  the  fame  of  Kellar,  and 
the  Magician  was  easily  persuaded  to  appear  at  the  pal- 
ace. The  Sultan's  Major  Domo  was  a  darky  named 
Capt.  Mahomet,  a  thrifty  old  schemer,  who  allowed 
Kellar  1,000  rupees  for  giving  the  entertainment, 
and,  as  afterward  transpired,  told  his  Imperial  master 
that  the  charge  was  5,000  rupees.  The  extra  4,000 
rupees  found  their  way  into  Major  Domo's  pocket,  and 
thus  did  he  trick  the  trickster  and  measurably  com- 
pensate himself  for  being  able  to  speak  fifteen  lan- 
guages. The  performance  was  given  in  the  open  air 
on  the  plaza  before  the  palace,  the  invisible  beauties  of 
the  hareni  audibly  expressing  their  delight,  and  the 
populace — who  were  admitted  to  one  side  of  the  plaza 
— often  shrinking  back  with  awe. 

At  Mozambique  a  brief  stop  was  made,  and  the 
Royal  Illusionists  played  for  the  Portuguese  Club,  mak- 
ing a  great  hit.  Thence  they  went  to  Durban,  Natal, 
where,  on  the  evening  of  April  27,  1878,  they  opened 
at  the  Trafalgar  Theatre.  Shortly  after  this  my  mas- 
ter was  taken  sick  with  the  Daingue  fever,  and  was  a 
sufferer  from  it  for  two  weeks.  At  one  time  he  was 
not  expected  to  live.  The  best  physicians  in  the  place 
could  not  help  him.  When  matters  had  reached  such 
a  crisis  that  hope  had  departed,  an  old  sea  captain  was 
allowed  to  experiment  with  the  sufferer.  He  simply 
applied  cold  compresses,  and  within  twenty-four  hours 
my  master  was  on  his  feet  again.  The  Illusionist  did 
excellently  at  Durban,  as  also  at  Pietermaritzburg, 
where  Kellar  met,  and  became  intimately  ac- 
quainted with,  Bishop  Colenso.  At  Port  Elizabeth, 
{Cellar's  artistic  successes  were  renewed,  the  Ob- 
server  declaring,  "  It  is  incomparably  the  most  ^mark- 
able  display  the  colonists  have  ever  witnessed." 

On  June  8,  1878,  my  master  opened  at  the  Athe- 
naeum in  Cape  Town,  entering  upon  a  wonderfully  sue- 


124  A  MAGICIAN'S  Tomt. 

cessful  season  of  thirteen  weeks.  Among  his  patrons 
were  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  G.  C.  B.,  G.  C.  S.  I.,  and  all  of 
the  leading  citizens.  My  master  here  engaged  Signora 
Neri  and  Signor  Nulli,  prima  donna  and  pianist  of  the 
Italian  Opera  Company,  who  contributed  to  the  popu- 
larity of  the  entertainment.  So  notable  did  the  enter- 
tainment at  the  At  hen  ee  um  become,  that  on  one  occa- 
sion the  principal  of  the  public  schools  gave  out  as  a 
copy  to  the  writing  class,  "Kellar,  the  Royal  Illusion- 
ist, is  very  clever,"  and  on  that  day  every  school  boy 
in  Cape  Town  practiced  with  his  pen  on  a  statement 
which  their  elders,  as  well  as  themselves,  heartily  en- 
dorsed. The  newspapers  were  lavish  in  their  praise  of 
the  performances.  The  Times  said  :  "  Every  evening 
Mr.  Kellar  has  had  to  turn  people  from  the  doors." 
The  Argus  remarked :  "  Anything  more  refined  and 
artistic  could  hardly  be  witnessed  in  any  city  of  the 
world.  Last  evening  the  hall  was  filled  with  as  intel- 
ligent an  audience  as  is  ever  gathered  in  this  citv  Jit  a 
public  entertainment,  and,  without  exception,  all  pro- 
nounced the  result  marvelous."  In  reporting  the  per- 
formance, the  Times  said:  "On  Monday  night  Mr.  F. 
G.  Goodhffe  and  Mr.  A.  G.  Jones  tied  the  'mediums.' 
Mr.  Goodliffe  mentioned  incidentally  that  he  had  tied 
Maskelyne  and  Cooke,  and  this  gave  Mr.  Kellar  the 
opportunity  of  alluding  to  an  unfair  criticism,  which 
had  appeared  in  one  of  the  leading  journals  of  the- 
town.  He  was  very  glad,  indeed,  that  there  was  a 
gentleman  present  who  had  tied  Maskelyne  and  Cooke, 
and  he  would  ask  him  to  give  his  verdict  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  performance.  The  seances  were  then 
gone  through,  the  tying  was  done  with  the  greatest 
care,  and  at  the  conclusion  Mr.  Goodliffe  expressed  his 
opinion  to  the  effect  that  this  was  the  most  clever  per- 
formance of  its  kind  he  had  ever  witnessed."  In  an- 
other issue  the  Times  stated  :  "  On  Monday  night  Dr. 
Shaw,  of  the  South  African  College,  was  one  of  the 
committee  who  held  the  performer,  and  at  the  conclu- 


126  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Bion  of  the  seance  he  stated  that  the  performance  was 
the  most  marvelous  and  the  most  mysterious  he  had 
ever  seen."  The  challenges  to  mediums  were  contin- 
ued at  Cape  Town,  and  Kellar  also  repeated  his 
statement  that  he  did  not  believe  any  person  could  tie 
him  so  securely  that  he  could  not  free  himself.  Con- 
cerning the  tying,  a  correspondent  of  the  Cape  Town 
Evening  Star,  of  June  19,  1878,  wrote  as  follows: 
44  Mr.  Kehoe,  the  proprietor  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Hotel, 
and  who  lias  had,  I  believe,  a  great  experience  in  sea 
life,  intimated  his  willingness  to  engage  the  Illusionist, 
and  a  challenge  was  made  by  him  and  accepted  by 
Kellar.  The  terms  were  brief.  Kehoe  stipulated  that 
he  should  be  allowed  to  use  his  own  rope.  Kellar  re- 
plied that  he  accepted  the  challenge  without  reserva- 
tion of  any  kind.  Kehoe  had  formerly  successfully  tied 
4  Maxamilian,'  and  there  were  many  who  were  fully 
persuaded  of  his  ability  to  '  fix '  the  Illusionist.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Illusionist  was  equally  confident 
tnat  no  one  could  4  fix' him,  and  with  such  directly 
conflicting  opinions  some  bets  were  booked  on  the 
event. 

"  The  last  evening  was  to  decide  the  matter,  and  at 
about  half-past  seven  o'clock  a  large  crowd  had  gath- 
ered round  the  doors  of  the  Athenaeum.  Seats  were  at 
a  premium,  and  yet  only  those  who  had  been  wise 
enough  to  secure  seats  in  the  course  of  the  preceding 
day  could  be  admitted.  Five  shillings  each  for  gallery 
seats  or  standing  room  below  were  freely  offered,  but 
had  to  be  declined,  and  at  least  as  many  people  were 
turned  away  as  would  have  again  filled  the  hall. 
Among  the  audience  were  Sir  David  Tennant,  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Assembly;  the  Secretary  for  Native  Af- 
fairs ;  the  Commissioner  of  Crown  Lands  and  Public 
Works ;  Mr.  Kirkvvood,  M.  L.  A.;  Mr.  Goldschmidt, 
M.  L.  A.,  and  many  others. 

44  The  cabinet  seance  brought  to  the  stage  a  committee 
of  three.  While  Kellar  was  being  tied  by  one  in  a 


IN   AFRICA.  127 

simple  square  knot,  another  interposed  and  asked  if 
Kellar  would  object  to  being  tied  by  him  and  in  his 
way.  Kellar  answered  that  he  would,  upon  which  the 
committeeman,  with  execrable  taste,  looked  up  at  the 
gallery  and  spoke  to  the  gods  in  Dutch.  Beyond  a 
doubt  this  sceptic  scoffer  and  very  clever  man  thought 
he  had  'done'  the  Illusionists.  The  bad  taste  of  the 
proceedings  seemed  somewhat  to  annoy  Kellar,  who 
asked  the  comrnitteemen  to  speak  in  English,  4a  lan- 
guage we  all  understand,'  and  added  :  4  this  is  not  a 
rope-tying  exhibition  ;  it  is  an  expose  of  spiritualism, 
but  when  it  is  over  you  may  tie  me  in  any  way  you  like, 
arid  if  I  cannot  release  myself  I  will  give  you  £100. ' 

44  This  silenced  the  sceptic,  and  the  cabinet  seance 
was  proceeded  with.  In  that  part  of  it  where  Kellar 
has  the  hat  on  his  head,  his  hands  tied  behind  his  back, 
and  yet  transfers  the  hat  to  the  head  of  another,  the 
very  clever  committeeman  was  specially  sent  to  fasten 
the  doors  of  the  cabinet.  Before  he  could  even  fasten 
one,  Kellar  banged  the  hat  on  his  head  with  just  the 
faintest  soup  etm  of*  malice.  The  astonished  committee- 
man  jumped  back  some  three  or  four  feet,  and  thence- 
forward was  cowed.  There  was  no  more  winking  at 
the  gods,  no  4  knowing '  postures,  but  in  their  place  a 
positive  refusal  to  venture  near  the  Magician,  and  subse- 
quently a  declaration  that  4it  beat  him  altogether.' 

44  This  concluded,  Mr.  Hodgkins  did  the  pillory  test, 
an  even  more  wonderful  exhibition  than  the  last,  and 
next  Kellar  called  upon  Kehoe  to  come  on  to  the  stage 
and  decide  the  challenge.  Kehoe  responded  to  the  call 
without  delay,  and  produced  from  his  pocket  a  piece  of 
coir  (three-eighths  of  an  inch)  rope,  eleven  feet 
six  inches  long.  While  carefully  uncoiling  this,  Kehoe 
made  a  speech  somewhat  in  this  strain:  4  Our  friend 
here  said  no  one  could  tie  him  ;  I  thought  I  could,  and 
we  had  the  challenge  in  the  papers.  At  first  I  had 
some  doubts  about  being  able  to  do  it,  but  since  the 
spiritualist  case  in  the  Supreme  Court  this  morning 


128  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK, 

(loud  laughter),  when  the  spirits  lost  (more  laughing), 
I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  tie  him  so  he  can't  get  out.' 

"  Kehoe  then  drew  Kellar's  hands  behind  his  back,  and 
commenced  to  bind  him,  the  latter  only  stipulating  that 
he  should  not  cut  his  flesh.  Sharply,  and  as  one  who 
thoroughly  understood  what  he  was  doing,  and  had 
done  it  before,  Kehoe  lashed  the  hands  together,  round 
and  round,  with  many  a  sailor's  device,  and  finally  ex- 
hausted the  rope  in  as  neat  and  apparently  secure  a  tie 
as  could  be  wished.  Two  ship  captains  among  the 
audience  testified  to  the  genuine  and  thorough  charac- 
ter of  the  lashing,  and  expressed  their  conviction  that 
it  would  4  do '  the  Illusionist,  while  someone  else  de- 
clared the  lashing  would  fc  hold  a  man-of-war.'  The 
whole  operation  had  occupied  two  minutes  and  a 
quarter.  Kellar  himself  expressed  his  doubt  whether 
he  should  be  able  to  release  himself,  and  confessed  that 
he  had  never  been  so  well  tied  in  the  course  of  his  ex- 
perience. He  then  jumped  into  the  cabinet,  and  '  time  ' 
was  taken.  Fifty  seconds  passed  by,  and  the  sceptic 
began  to  look  triumphant,  when  suddenly  a  hand  ap- 
peared through  one  of  the  openings  in  the  cabinet,  and 
seventeen  seconds  later  Kellar  himself  appeared  quite 
free,  but  with  his  wrists  lacerated  by  the  new  rope. 

"  He  was  cheered  and  applauded  to  the  echo,  the  hall 
ringing  with  shouts  of  '  Bravo,  Kellar!'  until  one  was 
almost  deafened. 

"  So  ended  the  Kehoe-Kellar  challenge.  That  Kellar 
was  secured  as  perhaps  few  other  men  could  secure 
him,  is  beyond  doubt,  and  his  triumph  was  therefore  the 
greater.  It  was  a  feat  that  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 

tk  In  many  instances  spiritualists,  who  saw  the  won- 
ders Kellar  performed,  declared  that  he  was  a 
powerful  physical  medium,  without  the  moral  courage  to 
acknowledge  himself  as  such.  Immediately  following 
the  Kehoe  test,  a  spiritualist  wrote  in  this  strain  to  the 
Cape  Times,  and  wound  up  by  saying,  '  It  is  very 
wrong  for  him  to  abuse  such  power,  and  so  ridicule, 


IN   AFRICA.  129 

for  the  sake  of  popularity,  what  I  believe  to  be  a  great 
truth.' ' 

Kellar  added  to  his  popularity  in  Cape  Town 
by  refusing  to  play  on  the  nights  set  apart  in  aid  of  the 
fund  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  the  men  drowned 
in  the  "  Eurydice."  All  of  the  papers  commented  on 
this  generous  act,  and  the  Evening  Star,  of  June  20, 
1878,  said :  "  His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  is  about 
to  extend  for  a  second  time,  his  patronage  to  Mr. 
Kellar.  This  act  on  the  part  of  his  Excellency  shows 
a  great  appreciation  of  the  merit  of  the  Illusionist,  and 
may  be  regarded  as  a  graceful  acknowledgment  of  the 
excellent  taste  and  generous  good  feeling  displayed  by 
him  in  declining  to  perform  on  the  evenings  set  apart 
for  the  entertainments  in  aid  of  those  distressed  by  the 
loss  of  the  Eurydice." 

The  Illusionists  took  their  farewell  of  a  Cape  Town 
audience  on  the  afternoon  of  the  23d  of  June,  and  for 
that  occasion  appeared  in  the  Exhibition  Building. 
The  Times  said  concerning  the  entertainment :  "  Not- 
withstanding the  mud,  which  rendered  it  almost  im- 
possible to  walk  the  streets  of  Cape  Town  on  Saturday, 
and  the  showers  of  rain  almost  up  to  the  hour  of  the 
entertainment,  the  largest  crowd  which  has  ever  been 
seen  in  the  Exhibition  building  was  present  to  greet 
the  Illusionists.  The  band  of  the  Connaught  Rangers 
opened  the  performance  with  an  overture." 

During  his  stay  at  the  Cape,  Kellar  became  very 
well  acquainted  with  Lieut.  Col.  F.  A.  Weatherley. 
All  that  time  there  were  mutte rings  of  the  storm  that 
afterward  swept  over  Zululund,and  cost  the  lives  of  so 
many  British  soldiers.  Many  people  at  the  Cape  de- 
spised the  Zulus,  but  Col.  Weatherley  had  a  different 
opinion.  He  told  Kellar  that  if  war  came,  the 
Zulus  would  be  found  to  be  brave  and  desperate 
fighters.  Like  a  brave  man,  he  was  not  afraid  to  say 
that  he  dreaded  the  contest,  and  well  he  might.  He 
fell  in  the  disastrous  fight  on  the  Zlobarie  Mountain,  on 


130  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

the  28th  of  the  following  March.  The  career  of  this 
gallant  soldier  was  a  most  creditable  one.  He  was  a 
son  of  Mr.  Ilderton  Weatherley,  of  Toronto,  Canada, 
a  grandson  of  Mr.  John  Weatherley,  of  Wellington, 
near  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  He  was  educated  at  Berlin, 
and  served  some  time  in  an  Austrian  cavalry  regiment, 
after  which  he  entered  the  British  army,  joining  the 
14th  Light  Dragoons,  with  which  he  served  in  the 
Crimea,  and  took  part  in  the  charge  of  the  Light 
Brigade  at  Balaklava,  the  battle  of  Tehernaya,  and  the 
siege  and  capture  of  Sebastopol.  Subsequently  chang- 
ing into  the  6th  Dragoons,  he  served  in  India  during 
the  mutiny  in  the  campaign  at  Oude.  On  returning 
to  England  he  retired  from  the  service  and  was  subse- 
quently in  command  of  the  Artillery  Volunteers  at 
Brighton,  which  position  he  resigned  in  1877,  upon  go- 
ing to  South  Africa  to  take  possession  of  his  property 
in  the  Transvaal.  He  had  been  a  great  favorite  with 
Sir  Bartle  Frere  during  his  service  in  India,  and  when 
the  Zulu  war  broke  out,  he  raised  a  picked  corps  of 
Lancers,  and  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Border 
Cavalry,  with  which  he  rendered  great  service  to 
Colonel  Evelyn  Wood.  At  the  battle  of  Zlobane  his 
little  troop,  consisting  of  about  sixty  men,  ascended 
the  mountain  and  held  the  hidden  enemy  in  check  un- 
til the  retreat  was  sounded,  but  when  they  turned  and 
descended,  they  were  at  once  surrounded  by  the  Zulus, 
who  rushed  out  upon  them  from  the  caves  and  krantzes 
of  the  Zlobane  and  the  neighboring  mountain.  Col. 
Weatherley  and  his  son,  who  was  serving  under  him 
as  a  lieutenant,  fought  desperately,  as,  indeed,  did 
every  one  of  the  little  troop ;  but  they  were  soon  over- 
powered by  numbers,  the  circle  of  savage  warriors 
gradually  narrowed,  and  only  one  officer  and  five  men 
survived  to  return  to  camp,  after  having  their  horses 
killed  under  them,  and  themselves  hiding  among  the 
rocks  until  the  darkness  of  night  enabled  them  to  es- 


HARD   LUCK  TURNS.  131 

cape.  When  last  seen  Col.  Weatherley  was  support- 
ing his  wounded  son  on  one  arm,  while  with  the  other 
he  was  slashing  right  and  left  at  the  furious  assailants 
who  surrounded  him. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

HARD  LUCK  TURNS. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1878,  Kellar  left  Cape 
Town  on  the  steamship  German,  bound  for  England. 
He  celebrated  the  fourth  of  July  on  board  ship.  The 
"Star  Spangled  Banner"  and  "  God  Save  the  Queen" 
were  given  to  a  chorus  of  popping  corks,  and  all  went 
merrily  as  well  as  patriotically.  On  the  14th  of  July, 
the  Magician  landed  at  Southampton.  After  a  short  sea- 
son in  that  c'ty,  he  proceeded  to  London,  where  he  se- 
cured a  new  outfit,  and  soon  after  started  for  Havana 
via  St.  Thomas,  on  the  Royal  mail  steamship  Medway. 
A  terrible  hurricane  was  encountered  on  the  way,  but 
the  good  vessel  carried  its  passengers  safely  to  their 
destination. 

Our  tour  of  Cuba  financially  was  most  disastrous. 
The  country  was  in  an  unsettled  condition,  and  the 
people  did  not  seem  to  care  to  be  amused  or  mystified. 
We  visited  Matanzas,  Cardenas,  Villa  Clara,  Cienfue- 
gos  and  Trinidad,  among  other  places,  and  lost  money 
everywhere.  Returning  to  Havana  we  embarked  for 
New  York  on  the  steamer  Saratoga,  determined  to 
make  a  venture  on  American  soil. 

On  the  9th  of  December,  1878,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Redpath  Lyceum  Bureau,  my  master 
opened  at  Horticultural  Hall,  in  Boston.  One  of  his 
attractions  at  this  time  was  the  famous  automaton, 
Psycho,  and  the  entertainment  he  gave  was  one  of 
great  excellence.  But,  although  the  Boston  newspa- 


132  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

pers  gave  him  strong  support,  and  although  his  audi- 
ences were  delighted  with  what  they  saw,  his  season 
was  not  a  financial  success.  Heller,  the  magician,  had 
died  in  Philadelphia  but  a  short  time  previously,  and 
the  similarity  of  names  made  most  people  believe  that 
Kellar  was  trying  to  make  capital  out  of  the  dead 
man's  reputation.  The  New  York  Sun  voiced  this 
popular  feeling  in  a  very  cutting  article,  which  was 
generally  copied,  and  which  turned  the  tide  still  more 
strongly  against  my  master.  A  Boston  Herald  reporter 
one  day  handed  him  the  following  extract: 

"  Heller  is  hardly  dead  before  we  read  of  4  Kellar 
the  Wizard  '  performing  in  Boston.  Of  course  Kellar 
aims  to  profic  by  the  reputation  that  Heller  left,  by 
adopting  a  close  imita  ion  of  Heller's  name.  This  is 
not  an  uncommon  practice." 

In  the  issue  of  the  Herald  of  December  21,  the  re- 
porter thus  describes  what  followed  :  "  So  that  is  from 
the  New  York  Sun''  said  Kellar.  He  laughed  heartily 
and  went  on :  "  Why,  my  boy,  I  have  a  better  title  to 
my  professional  name  than  Heller  had  to  his.  Mine  is 
my  own.  His  true  name  was  Palmer,  and  be  adopted 
the  cognomen  under  which  he  traveled.  The  idea 
that  I  am  trying  to  build  up  a  reputation  on  his  name 
is  too  funny.  Why,  my  name  is  really  spelled  Keller, 
and  some  years  ago  I  changed  the  last  vowel  to  *  a,'  so 
that  it  should  not  be  confounded  with  his.  Heller  and 
I  were  warm  personal  friends,  and  we  have  often 
spoken  of  the  curious  similarity  of  our'  names.  Had 
this  charge  in  the  Sun  been  made  by  a  Western  paper,  or 
oi;e  in  any  part  of  the  world  except  the  Atlantic  States, 
I  would  not  care  a  fig  for  it,  for  I  am  better  known 
elsewhere  than  here,  and  the  absurdity  of  the  imputa- 
tion would  be  apparent.  Just  look  at  this." 

Mr.  Kellar  produced  a  scrap-book  filled  with  news- 
papers, and  criticisms  and  programmes  of  his  perform- 
ances, printed  in  a  dozen  languages,  and  dating  back 
four  or  five  years.  In  every  one  of  them  his  name  ap- 


134  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOCJE. 

pears  as  lie  gives  it  now.  Then  lie  brought  out  a  mass 
of  documents,  some  of  which  were  executed  far  back 
in  the  '60  ,  and  every  one  bore  the  name  "Keller.'' 

"These  o!d  ones,"  he  said,  "were  v/ritten  and 
printed  befoie  I  altered  the  4  e  '  to  'a,'  as  I  told  you. 
I  think  they  furnish  pretty  good  proof  that  I  am  not 
'profiting'  by  'adopting  a  close  imitation  of  Heller's 
name.'  ' 

The  reporter  acknowledged  that  they  did,  and  turn- 
ing over  the  scrap-book  found  much  material  which  in- 
terested him.  There  were  programmes  and  newspaper 
excerpts  in  English,  da  ed  in  San  Francisco  and  other 
California  cities  ;  Carson  and  Virginia  City,  Nev. ;  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah  ;  Sydney,  Australia  (when  und<jr  the 
patronage  of  His  Excellency  Sir  Hercules  Robinson,  K. 
C.  M.  G..  etc.,  and  in  presence  of  the  Honorable  Lady 
Robinson  and  suite,  appear  on  the  programme),  New 
Castle,  Brisbane,  Bathurst,  Melbourne,  Victoria,  Sand- 
hurst, Adelaide,  and  other  antipodean  cities;  Singa- 
pore; Dutch  bills  and  newspaper  extracts  dated  in 
Batavia,  Java,  Handelsblad,  Soerabaja  and  Samarang ; 
English  and  Chinese  bills,  the  latrer  very  curious, 
dated  Shangai  and  Hong  Kong  (one  at  the  last-named 
place  announcing  a  performance  "  under  the  distin- 
guished patronage  of  His  Excellency,  John  Pope  Hen- 
nessey, C.  M.  G.,  Governor,  etc.");  Spanish  and  English 
programmes,  and  clippings  dated  Manila;  English  and 
Arabic  ditto  from  Calcutta,  Bombay  and  Allahabad  ; 
more  in  English  from  Natal,  Cape  Town  (a  lace  trim- 
med satin  programme  dated  at  the  latter  place,  an- 
nounces a  benefit  to  Mr.  Kellar  "  under  the  distin- 
guished patronage  of  His  Excellency  Right  Hon.  Sir 
IJ.irtle  Frere,  G.  C.  B.,  G.  C.  S.  L,  etc.,"  and  another 
satin  "bill"  from  .the  former,  a  leiformance  "  under 
the  distinguished  presence  of  His  Excellency  Sir  Rich- 
aid  Temple  and  suite  ");  still  others  in  Spanish  from 
Havana,  and  so  on — a  collection  which  would  delight 


HARD  LUCK  TURNS.  185 

the   heart  of    a  "  professional "  play-bill    collector,   a 
printer,  or  a  linguist. 

But  it  takes  time  to  remove  a  popular  prejudice,  no 
matter  how  unjust,  as  my  master  found  to  his  cost. 
After  his  Boston  season  he  made  a  flying  visit  to 
friends  in  the  West,  and  on  his  return  trip  had  a  pleas- 
ant experience,  which  the  Boston  Herald  of  January 
15,  1879,  describes  as  follows: 

"On  returning  from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Mr.  Kellar  encoun- 
tered a  snow-block  west  of  Buffalo,  which  detained  the  train 
a  number  of  hours.  Mr.  Kellar,  who  is  noted  for  his  genial 
humor  and  spirit  of  fun,  beguiled  the  hours  by  extracting 
gold  pieces  from  a  rustic  old  gentleman's  whiskers,  to  the 
delight  of  all  present,  and  the  utter  discomfiture  of  the  sim- 
ple old  gentleman,  who  finally  became  excited  at  the  large 
quantities  of  gold  found  in  his  beard,  and  declared  he 
would  not  allow  Kellar  to  take  another  cent  from  his  whisk- 
ers. Immediately  retiring  to  a  quiet  corner  in  the  smoking 
car,  he,  by  the  aid  of  a  pocket  comb,  made  a  thorough 
search  through  his  beard  and  moustache.  Failing  in  this 
he  returned  to  Mr.  Kellar  and  demanded  the  money  taken 
from  his  person,  and  it  was  with  much  difficulty  he  was  per- 
suaded it  was  a  trick." 

Similar  episodes  are  common  in  the  experiences  of 
any  clever  sleight-of-hand  performer,  and  create  much 
innocent  amusement. 

On  the  evening  of  February  3,  1879,  my  master  op- 
ened at  Concert  Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  and  again,  al- 
though the  newspapers  were  all  that  could  be  desired, 
the  public  patronage  was  not  forthcoming.  Bad  luck 
"  followed  fast  and  followed  faster,"  and  for  about  ten 
weeks  my  master  manfully  fought  against  it,  hoping 
for  a  turn  in  the  tide.  During  that  time  his  expenses 
were  over  $1,000  a  week,  and  his  receipts  averaged  less 
than  $12  a  night.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  he  got 
money  enough  to  carry  him  to  Washington,  where  he 
had  an  engagement  with  Mr.  John  Ford.  The  stigma 
of  the  Heller  name  still  followed  him.  He  had  two 


136  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

weeks  of  very  bad  business,  and  being  "  flat  broke," 
in  desperation  he  advertised  a  Sunday  night  lecture  on 
Spiritualism,  to  be  delivered  in  the  National  Theatre. 
Mr.  Ford  furnished  the  theater  and  the  advertising, 
and  took  half  of  the  gross  receipts.  The  place  was 
packed  on  the  night  of  the  lecture.  The  speaker 
quickly  had  the  close  attention  of  the  audience.  He 
exposed  the  methods  of  the  mediums,  and  all  went 
smoothly  until  he  came  to  the  Davenport  cabinet  test. 
At  this  point  a  venerable  and  dignified  appearing  gen- 
tleman arose  in  the  audience,  and  challenged  my  mas- 
ter to  allow  him  to  tie  him  in  the  same  way  that  he  had 
tied  the  Davenport  Brothers.  He  said  that  if  permit- 
ted to  do  this  he  would  defy  Kellar  to  do  what  the 
Davenports  had  done.  The  man  was  very  earnest,  and 
declared  that  if  Kellar  failed  to  get  loose  when  tied 
he  was  a  fraud,  and  that  if  he  did  get  loose  it  would  be  by 
spirit  agency.  Nothing  could  have  happened  to  better 
please  my  master.  He  promptly  invited  the  old  gen- 
tleman upon  the  stage.  The  committee  of  one  took 
great  pains  with  his  tying,  and  with  many  neat  devices 
bound  his  hands  behind  his  back.  During  the  tying  some 
sensitive  and  sj^mpathetic  persons  in  the  audience  had 
cried  "  shame,"  when  they  saw  the  vicious  energy 
with  which  the  cord  was  being  drawn,  but  my  master 
assured  them  that  it  was  all  right.  Having  finished 
his  work  to  his  satisfaction,  the  old  gentleman  turned 
to  the  audience  with  an  air  which  plainly  said,  4*  I 
have  him  now.  Let  him  do  his  business  if  he  can." 
The  sceptic's  back  was  no  sooner  turned  to  him,  than 
my  master  slipped  one  hand  from  its  lashings  and 
tapped  the  old  gentleman  on  the  shoulder,  saying,  "  If 
you  have  my  two  hands  tied  behind  my  back,  I  must 
have  a  third  hand."  This  was  greeted  with  thunders 
of  applause,  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen  rising  and 
cheering,  and  hundreds  of  voices  shouting,  "  Bravo, 
Kellar ! "  The  old  gentleman  himself  joined  in  the 
applause,  and  said  he  gave  it  up. 


HARD  LUCK  TtfRlsrs.  187 

This  episode  caused  so  great  a  sensation  in  Wash- 
ington that  two  more  Sunday  evening  lectures  were 
given  to  crowded  houses,  and  ray  master  was  once 
more  comfortably  on  his  feet,  so  far  as  money  matters 
went,  and  furnished  him  with  funds  to  go  to  Rich- 
mond, Va.  Business  again  was  frightfully  bad.  He 
opened  in  a  large  theater  to  $1.50,  and  at  the  end  of 
three  clays  had  barely  money  enough  left  to  take  him 
back  to  New  York.  His  fortunes  were  now  at  a  low 
ebb,  but  his  self-reliance  never  for  a  moment  weakened. 

Arriving  in  New  York,  and  feeling  very  disconsolate, 
my  master  met  an  old  friend,  Col.  Willard  P.  Tisdell, 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  who  kindly  advanced  money  to 
pay  for  the  passage  of  himself  and  assistants  to  Brazil, 
on  the  steamer  Rio  de  Janeiro.  It  was  at  Rio  that  my 
master  had  met  with  the  greatest  financial  success  of 
his  career,  and  it  was  to  that  city  that  his  thoughts 
naturally  turned  when  stranded  in  the  States.  Before 
leaving  New  York  he  wrote  to  Messrs  McClure  & 
McDonald  of  London,  his  lithographers,  telling  them 
that  he  had  no  printing,  but  also  telling  them  that  he 
had  no  money  and  no  prospect  of  getting  any  except 
in  South  America.  If  they  were  willing  to  trust  him 
for  a  small  amount — say  <£50  worth — they  might  ship 
it  at  once  to  him  at  Rio,  and  he  would  be  very  grateful. 
The  voyage  to  Brazil  was  uneventful.  Kellar  and 
his  party  landed  at  Para,  and  played  without  printing, 
getting  money  enough  to  proceed  to  Rio.  At  the  capi- 
tal he  found  over  .£200  worth  of  printing,  which  had 
been  sent  him  by  Messrs.  McClure  &  McDonald,  and 
this  confidence  of  theirs  cheered  him  mightily.  He 
engaged  the  large  Imperial  Theatre,  and  found  that  his 
money  had  again  given  out.  Expenses  were  very 
heavy  at  Rio.  He  went  to  the  Emperor  to  get  his 
patronage,  for  everything  depended  on  the  success  of 
the  opening  night,  June  10,  1879.  Dom  Pedro  was 
very  gracious,  but  he  said  he  had  an  engagement  at 
Petropolis  for  that  date,  and  asked  Kellar  to  defer 


138  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

his  opening  until  the  12th.  Delay  meant  ruin  to  my 
master,  for  he  had  the  theater  engaged,  and  the  rent 
must  be  paid.  He  said  to  the  Emperor,  however,  if 
he  would  come  on  the  second  night  it  would  do.  Dom 
Pedro  II,  with  that  liberality  and  tenderness  which 
has  always  characterized  his  relations  with  reputable 
artists  of  every  class,  waved  his  hand  deprecatingly, 
and  said  in  tones  that  sounded  to  Kellar  like  the 
voice  of  an  angel,  "Ze  engagement  in  Petropolis  is  not 
an  important  one.  I  shall  be  zere  on  ze  Tuesday/' 
He  came  with  the  Empress  and  occupied  the  imperial 
box,  and  after  the  entertainment  sent  the  Magician  a 
present  of  500  milreis.  He  visited  the  theatre  four 
times  during  Kellar's  stay  at  Rio,  and  appeared  to 
be  very  much  delighted  with  the  performance.  My 
master's  success  was  enormous.  Col.  Tisdell  was  paid 
the  money  he  had  so  generously  advanced.  The  same 
steamer  that  brought  the  printing  from  the  London 
firm  carried  back  Kellar's  draft  for  the  amount. 
He  had  once  more  touched  Fortune's  fingers  and  gold 
was  pouring  into  his  coffers.  His  old  love  for  Rio 
revived  with  double  fervor.  He  adored  the  place.  To 
him  it  appeared  to  be  the  loveliest  spot  on  earth.  And 
well  he  might  admire  it,  for  the  natural  features  of  the 
place  are  of  a  high  order.  The  city  of  Rio  Janeiro  is 
chiefly  built  on  a  narrow,  undulating  plain,  extending 
for  six  miles  along- the  bay,  and  several  rocky  hummocks, 
which  rise  from  the  low  ground,  give  the  city  a  pictur- 
esque appearance.  The  harbor  is  one  of  the  best  in 
the  world.  It  is  an  irregular  basin  penetrating  inland 
fifteen  miles,  and  varying  in  width  from  two  to  nine 
miles.  The  entrance  is  only  1700  yards  wide,  and  is 
betw.een  two  steep  hills,  the  eastern  about  1000  feet 
and  the  western  1270  feet  in  height.  The  latter  is  a 
conical,  isolated  mass  of  gneiss,  called  Pao  de  Assucar 
(sugar  loaf).  At  its  base  is  a  fort,  and  on  the  opposite 
side  another,  forming  the  salient  points  of  a  system  of 
fortifications  designed  to  be  impregnable.  Just  within 


140  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

and  nearly  midway  of  the  entrance  is  an  isolated  rock 
also  strongly  fortified.  The  basin  soon  widens,  and  the 
shores  winding  in  deep  curves  form  beautiful  ba^s  and 
coves.  Many  islands  are  scattered  over  its  surface,  the 
largest  of  which  are  cultivated,  and  many  of  them  are 
fortified.  Numerous  streams  empty  into  the  basin, 
adding  much  to  the  charm  of  the  scenery. 

From  Rio  Kellar  proceeded  to  Montevideo  and 
Buenos  Ayres,  at  each  place  doing  a  big  business.  He 
afterward  made  a  successful  tour  through  the  provin- 
cial towns  of  Brazil,  and  then,  "with  pockets  full  of 
money,"  returned  to  England. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

BEFORE  HER   MAJESTY. 

It  was  early  in  November,  1879,  that  he  landed  on 
the  u  Little  Isle,"  and  on  the  8th  of  that  month  he 
opened  at  the  Winter  Gardens  in  Southport.  His 
success  was  instantaneous.  The  Southport  Critic  said 
of  him  :  "  Mr  Kellar's  illusions  are  simply  wonderful, 
and  no  modern  enchanter  has  created  more  surprises 
where  it  is  difficult  to  create  surprises  at  all."  After 
a  very  successful  season  of  one  week  at  Southport,  my 
master  went  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  opened  at 
Waverley  Hall.  At  this  time  he  added  three  automata 
to  his  collection — Echo,  a  wonderful  cornet  player ; 
Phono,  a  performer  on  another  musical  instrument ; 
and  Clio,  a  sketch  artist  of  such  skill  as  to  quickly 
make  a  crayon  portrait  of  any  person  indicated  by  the 
audience.  These,  with  Psycho,  made  perhaps  the 
most  marvelous  collection  of  the  kind  in  the  possession 
of  any  one  entertainer.  The  canny  Scotchmen  found 
much  to  admire  and  wonder  at  in  the  entertainments 
at  Waverley  Hall.  The  Daily  Review  declared  the 


BEFORE  HER   MAJESTY.  141 

performance  to  be. "  one  of  the  most  excellent  ever 
provided  for  tin  Edinburgh  audience."  The  Scotsman^ 
the  Cpurant)  and  the  Evening  News  were  also  very 
complimentary  in  their  notices.  My  master  remained 
in  Edinburgh  for  thirteen  weeks,  doing  a  good  busi- 
ness and  winning  the  favor  of  many  of  the  most 
prominent  people  of  the  city.  He  had  visits  from  the 
Duke  of  Buccleuch  and  his  son,  the  Earl  of  Dalkeith, 
whom  he  had  met  at  Bombay  ;  from  Prof.  Blackie,  Sir 
Noel  Payton,  Sir  Daniel  McNee,  and  other  distin- 
guished personages.  After  his  Edinburgh  season  the 
Magician  visited  most  of  the  cities  and  large  towns  of 
the  United  Kingdoms,  meeting  with  a  cordial  reception 
everywhere.  In  March  of  1880,  he  made  a  short 
engagement  with  Miss  Haidee  Heller  (sister  of 
the  late  Robert  Heller),  to  give  her  famous  second 
sight  experiments  at  his  entertainments,  with  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  Warren  Wright,  and  the  new  feature 
added,  if  possible,  to  the  popularity  of  the  perfor- 
mances. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1880,  Kellar  was  com- 
manded to  appear  before  the  Queen,  at  Balmoral 
Castle,  and  Her  Majesty  seemed  to  be  very  much 
pleased  with  the  entertainment. 

During  most  of  the  remainder  of  the  year  1880,  my 
master  traveled  in  England  and  Scotland,  being  well 
patronized  by  the  people,  and  very  favorably  spoken 
of  by  the  press.  At  Brighton  he  played  for  a  week 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Mayor,  Henry  Davey,  Esq., 
J.P.,  and  everywhere  he  enjoyed  the  support  of  the 
best  people.  There  was  no  feature  on  the  programme 
which  was  not  favorably  commented  on,  but  the 
cabinet  manifestations  and  the  automata  were,  per- 
haps, most  marvelous  to  the  average  audience.  The 
following  extract  from  the  Sussex  Post  of  October  12, 
1880,  very  fairly  represents  the  usual  comments  of  the 
press  on  that  subject : 


142  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

"In  the  second  portion  of  the  entertainment,  the 
audience  is  introduced  to  three  of  the  most  marvelous 
automata  we  have  ever  seen.  They  are  Clio,  the  whist 
playing  and  calculating  gentleman  ;  Phono,  the  juvenile 
cornet  player  ;  and  Arno,  the  sketching  automaton,  a 
dwarf  figure  mounted  on  a  pedestal  composed  of  a  glass 
cylinder,  which,  not  only  in  response  to  the  command  of 
Kellar,  moved  its  hand  and  head  in  any  direction,  but 
solved  the  most  intricate  of  mathematical  problems  pro- 
posed by  members  of  the  audience.  A  gentleman  near  us 
asked  for  the  cube  of  7,649,  and,  as  rapidly  as  the  cards 
containing  the  numerals  could  be  lifted,  the  answer  was 
given,  namely,  447,521,580,449.  Several  equally  great 
problems  were  solved.  This  automaton,  whatever  the 
intelligent  cause,  is  certainly  a  marvel  of  mechanical  skill, 
the  nearest  rival  to  it  being  the  wonderful  chess  playing 
automaton,  '  Mephistopheles,'  which  created  such  a  sensa- 
tion in  Brighton  last  season.  The  cornet  player  is  almost 
AS  wonderful.  The  figure  of  a  small  boy  sits  on  a  chair 
and  performs  in  an  expressive  manner  various  popular  airs 
to  the  pianoforte  accompaniment.  We  have  heard  the 
'Carnival  de  Venice,'  with  variations,  performed  less 
effectively  by  amateurs  of  repute,  than  it  was  by  Phono 
last  evening  The  sketching  automaton  is  also  a  source  of 
much  amusement.  It  last  evening  produced  an  excellent 
portrait  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and,  judging  from  samples  of 
its  artistic  skill,  which  we  have  seen,  its  dexterity  in  that 
direction  is  equal  to  that  of  either  of  its  confreres  in  the 
other  departments.  The  entertainment  is  brought  to  a 
close  by  some  clever  spirit  manifestations,  Kellar  being  the 
medium.  Altogether  the  entertainment  is  a  delightful 
one,  and  one  that  cannot  fail  to  please  all  who  witness  it." 

When  in  that  neighborhood  my  master  received  an 
invitation  from  the  Mayor  of  Cambridge  to  play  in 
Guild  Hall  before  the  college  boys.  He  found  the 
youngsters  to  be  a  wild  and  hilarious  set,  who  did  their 
best  to  make  it  very  lively  for  the  Magician.  Their 
interruptions  were  mainly  confined  to  words,  however, 
and  Kellar  answered  their  sallies  after  their  own 
kind.  Everybody  was  in  the  best  of  humor,  and  at 


BEFORE  HER  MAJESTY. 


143 


the  conclusion  of  the  entertainment  the  boys  took 
Kellar  on  their  shoulders  and  carried  him  to  a  banquet- 
ing hall,  where  a  nice  supper  was  served.  He  was 
requested  to  give  a  second  performance,  but  declined, 
as  one  such  experience  was  enough. 

Early  in  December,  1880,  my  master  embarked  at 
London  for  Gibraltar,  where  he  played  in  the  Garrison 


A  ZULU  KRAAL. 

Theatre.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Malta,  performing 
in  the  Theatre  del  Opera,  and  to  Alexandria  and 
Cairo,  doing  a  very  good  business  at  each  place.  Re- 
turning to  Spain,  he  appeared  at  Lisbon,  and  then 
proceeded  to  Funchal,  in  Madeira.  In  the  latter  place 
he  stayed  for  two  weeks,  meeting  with  success, 
and  then  took  a  steamer  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
landing  at  Cape  Town  on  New  Year's  da}r,  1881. 

The  season  was  not  a  propitious  one  for  entertain- 
ments of  any  kind.     The  Boer  war  had  just  broken  out, 


144  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

and  the  Basuto  war  was  in  progress.  Nearly  every 
family  had  sons  or  relatives  at  the  front,  and  the 
excitement  was  very  great.  Despite  these  drawbacks, 
Kellar  was  welcomed  with  much  cordiality  on  his 
return  to  South  Africa,  and  the  automata,  which  were 
the  most  novel  part  of  the  entertainment,  excited 
much  wonder  and  favorable  comment.  After  a  very 
successful  season  in  Cape  Town,  Kellar  proceeded 
to  Port  Elizabeth  and  Graaff  Reinet.  At  the  last- 
named  place,  he  played  for  one  night  in  the  Stadt-Huis  ; 
but  so  great  was  the  prejudice  excited  among  the 
worthy  burghers  by  the  diablerie  of  the  performance, 
that  they  refused  the  use  of  the  Huis  for  another  exhi- 
bition. They  declared  that  they  would  not  encourage 
a  man  who  had  dealings  with  the  devil. 

At  Grahamstown  my  master  did  a  splendid  business 
in  Albany  Hall.  His  next  objective  point  was  King 
Williamstown,  to  reach  which  he  was  forced  to  take  a 
long  journey  by  coach.  On  the  way  he  crossed  the 
Fish  River,  near  which  point  they  encountered  a  large 
number  of  lion-killing  apes,  an  extremely  fierce,  strong 
and  aggressive  member  of  the  monkey  family.  At 
a  distance  these  huge  apes  have  a  strong  resemblance 
to  lions,  their  heavy  manes  contributing  to  the  illusion. 
They  filed  across  the  road  in  front  of  the  teams,  and 
then  for  a  time  sat  on  their  haunches  by  the  side  of  the 
way,  barking.  The  drivers  of  the  teams  frequently 
stopped  until  the  apes  moved  on.  A  suggestion  was 
made  that  a  shot  be  fired  among  them,  but  those  who 
were  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  the  animal,  declared 
that  to  anger  them  would  be  to  bring  the  whole  mob 
upon  the  train,  and  would  probably  result  in  the  death 
of  every  living  creature  about  it.  The  apes  were 
allowed  to  depart  in  peace. 

From  King  Williamstown  my  master  went  to  East 
London  and  Panmuir,  and  then  to  Queenstown  by  rail. 
At  the  last-named  place,  he  played  to  good  audiences 
for  three  nights,  and  then  started  on  a  twenty-five 


BEFORE   HEE   MAJESTY.  145 

days'  journey  by  bullock  wagon  to  Kimberley,  in  the 
heart  of  the  Diamond  District.  If  anything  will  try  a 
man's  temper  it  is  to  ride  for  a  month  in  a  wagon  of 
any  kind  ;  but  when  that  wagon  is  without  springs 
and  is  dragged  by  eighteen  bullocks,  the  man's  anat- 
omy, as  well  as  his  temper,  is  likely  to  reach  a  state  of 
collapse. 

After  leaving  Queenstown,  the  scenery  became 
parklike,  and  even  in  a  driving  rain  one  could  not  help 
expressing  admiration  of  it.  When  about  twenty-five 
miles  from  Queenstown  the  party  crossed  the  Bush- 
man's Hook,  a  very  steep  hill  up  which  the  road  winds 
at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees.  It  was  a  very 
toilsome  ascent,  and  it  required  the  combined  efforts 
of  three  trains  (fifty-four  oxen)  to  pull  their  wagon  to 
the  top.  The  caravan  consisted  of  eight  wagons,  each 
of  which  had  a  team  of  eighteen  bullocks.  The  first 
contained  Mr.  Kellars  paraphernalia,  and  the  others 
were  laden  with  merchandise  for  Kimberley.  It  is 
usual  when  one  wagon  gets  stuck,  for  the  other  teams 
to  come  to  its  assistance,  and  it  is  a  case  of  "  help  one 
another  "  at  eaeli  bad  spot  of  road  or  hill.  Once  on 
top  of  the  "  Hook"  the  travelers  found  a  wide  expanse 
of  country  with  ever  changing  scenery.  From  the  top 
of  the  hill  to  Molieno,  the  road  runs  through  a  rolling 
country,  with  here  and  there  a  clump  of  trees.  It  was 
then  the  rainy  season  and  they  found  the  roads  very 
bad.  At  times  the  wagons  would  sink  below  the 
hubs  in  mud.  Then  there  would  be  a  hitching-on  of 
all  the  oxen  to  one  wagon,  and  the  drivers  would  yell 
like  demons  at  the  poor  brutes,  shouting  "  Treck, 
Treck !"  to  urge  them  on.  From  Bourgersdorp  to 
Bethulie  Mission  Station  is  about  eighty  miles,  the 
latter  half  of  the  distance  being  through  a  very  beauti- 
ful country,  which  descends  into  the  Orange  Valley. 
The  road  wound  around  Kloofs  and  under  the  sides  of 
hills,  until  at  last  it  was  a  relief  to  get  to  the  bottom 
and  see  the  Orange  River  rolling  over  its  rocky  bed. 
10 


146  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

This  river  is  a  noble  stream^  but  before  the  bridge  was 
built  at  Bethulie  it  was  a  great  bar  to  commerce  and 
communication.  Now,  however,  it  is  spanned  by  a 
splendid  bridge  nearly  one-quarter  of  a  rnile  long. 

The  Orange  River  divides  the  Cape  Colony  from  the 
Orange  Free  State.  Every  wagon  entering  the  Free 
State  was  then  taxed  £  2,  equal  to  $10  U.  S.  money.  This 
tax  was  apparently  imposed  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
the  roads  in  as  bad  a  condition  as  possible.  From  Be- 
thulie the  travelers  passed  through  a  grand  country, 
well  wooded,  well  watered,  and  very  fertile.  Al 
though  cattle  and  sheep  were  plentifully  scattered  all 
over  the  face  of  the  landscape,  and  notwithstanding 
there  were  innumerable  well  cultivated  farms,  they 
could  not  purchase  one  mouthful  of  food  from  the 
Boers,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  they  had 
laid  in  a  large  stock  of  canned  provisions  at  Queens- 
town,  they  must  have  fared  badly.  Kellar  learned 
that  English  tramps,  at  the  first  rush  for  the  diamond 
fields,  overrun  the  country,  and  were  treated  with 
uniform  kindness  by  the  Dutch  settlers,  but  that  their 
hospitality  had  been  abused  in  the  most  shameful  man- 
ner. Often,  when  a  Boer  would  give  food  and  shelter 
to  one  of  these  tramps,  he  would  find  in  the  morning 
that  his  house  had  been  robbed  by  the  ingrate.  They 
were  excusable,  therefore,  for  their  hatred  of  all  who 
speak  the  English  language. 

While  in  this  vicinity  Mr.  Kellar  and  his  party  be- 
came very  desirous  to  get  some  fresh  meat.  The 
reader  may  think  they  could  have  spared  an  ox  or  two 
from  the  nine  pairs  hitched  to  each  wagon,  because  the 
reader  didn't  see  them.  As  it  was,  the  wagons  often 
pulled  the  teams.  Besides,  it  was  a  mutton  day  with 
my  master,  and  so,  in  accordance  with  a  custom  of  the 
country,  he  seized  a  sheep  and  had  it  killed,  and  de- 
posited on  the  gate-post  of  the  Boer's  house  thirty 
shillings  in  payment  for  the  creature.  The  enraged 
Dutchman  didn't  see  the  money — a  person  rarely  does 


BEFORE  HER  MAJESTY.  147 

when  a  Magician  handles  it — and  he  raised  such  a 
crowd  of  his  friends  that  Kellar  was  seized  and 
bound  with  a  rope.  The  Magician  astonished  the 
Boers  by  doing  not  the  great  Sampson  act,  but  the 
great  Kellar  act.  He  untied  the  rope  in  a  twinkling 
and  threw  it  in  his  captors'  faces. 

It  takes  a  great  deal  to  astonish  a  Boer,  but  these 
farmers  were  nearly  paralyzed.  They  didn't  let  the 
trickster  go,  however;  they  simply  surrounded  him  at 
a  respectful  distance,  and  took  him  to  their  head  man, 
a  long-bearded,  hard-headed,  incredulous  old  burgher 
who  believed  nothing  he  didn't  see  and  only  half  he 
did  see.  He  scouted,  in  jerky  Dutch,  the  wonderful 
story  that  was  told,  and  called  for  the  rope.  There 
was  a  twinkle  in  my  master's  eye  when  Mynheer  began 
to  tie  him,  but  he  said  nothing  until  the  Boer  had 
finished  his  work  and  with  a  grunt  of  satisfaction 
tucked  the  last  end  of  the  rope  out  of  sight.  The  grin 
of  assurance  was  still  on  the  Dutchman's  face  when 
Kellar  suddenly  flung  the  rope,  like  a  great  coiling 
serpent,  on  to  the  roof  of  the  man's  house.  The  Boer's 
jaw  dropped,  his  smile  gave  place  to  a  look  of  super- 
stitious terror.  He  shouted,  as  all  fled  from  the 
Magician,  that  the  devil  was  among  them;  that  his 
house  would  be  haunted  ;  that  bad  luck  would  follow 
them.  Kellar  could  only  reassure  them  by  climb- 
ing up  and  getting  the  rope.  There  was  no  lack  of 
free  mutton  after  that.* 

*During  the  spring  of  1883,  while  Mr  Kellar  was  filling  a  very 
successful  engagement  at  the  Arch  Street  Opera  House  in  Phila- 
delphia, the  substance  of  this  Boer  incident  was  published  in  the 
Philadelphia  Record.  On  the  succeeding  day  Mr.  Kellar  received  the 
following  letter  : 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  March  28,  1886. 
MR.  KELLAR — 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  read  in  to-day's  Record  your  experience  with  the 
Boers  in  South  Africa.  There  are  a  great  many  people  who  would 
only  consider  that  as  an  advertisement  and  not  place  any  trust  in  it, 
but  I  may  say  that  I  can  verify  your  statement,  as  I  have  parsonal 
knowledge  of  the  fact.  I  was  in  Jagersfontein,  Orange  Free  State,  at 


148  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

KIMBERLEY   DIAMOND  FIELDS. 

Fauresmith  had  risen  to  some  importance,  owing  to 
the  development  of  the  Jagersfontein  diamond  mines. 
The  surroundings  of  the  town  were  very  beautiful, 
and  there  were  many  charming  walks  and  drives. 
From  Jagersfontein  to  Kimberley  the  road  ran  through 
a  flat  plain  and  crossed  the  Riet  and  Modder  rivers, 
both  of  which  streams  the  travelers  were  obliged  to 
ford,  as  there  were  no  bridges  then  (1881)  at  Jagers- 
fontein. 

Kellar  went  in  advance  of  the  bullock  train, 
taking  only  one  wagon  and  eighteen  young  bull- 
ocks. He  was  warned  that  he  would  not  be  able  to 
get  through,  but  that  he  would  surely  get  stuck  on  the 
roads.  As  my  master  was  very  anxious  to  reach  Kim- 
berley at  an  early  day,  he  determined  to  push  on  and 
take  the  risk.  At  the  Riet  River  he  found  the  water 
low,  but  a  bad  bank  on  the  opposite  side  stopped  fur- 
ther progress.  At  this  point  he  was  overtaken  by  a 
Dutch  wagon  train,  also  bound  for  Kimberley,  and,  after 

the  time,  and  jailer  of  the  Jagersfontein  prison.  Your  fame  is  well 
known  throughout  the  Cape,  and  this  feat,  which  you  describe  so 
well,  near  Bethulie,  will  be  handed  down  among  those  ignorant 
Boers  for  generations.  I  went  to  Port  Elizabeth  in  the  early  part  of 
'79,  and  returned  home  in  the  fall  of  '82.  Your  traveling  experience 
in  bullock-wagons  brings  back  old  recollections.  I  trust  you  will 
be  as  successful  here  as  at  the  Cape. 

Respectfully, 

GEO.  D.  JOHNSON,  I.D.B. 

No.  1512  South  Thirteenth  Street." 

The  I.D.B.  following  Mr.  Johnson's  name  stands  for  "Inde- 
pendent Diamond  Broker,"  and  indicates  that  once  upon  a  time  he 
traded  in  diamonds  at  Kimberley  without  saying  ' '  by  your  leave  " 
to  the  Government. 


KIMBERLEY  DIAMOND  FIELDS.  149 

much  bickering,  the  leader,  a  gray-headed  old  sinner, 
agreed  to  help  Kellar  across  on  payment  of  £7 
($35),  which  exorbitant  sum  he  paid  with  the  best 
grace  his  ruffled  mind  would  permit.  He  continued  in 
the  wake  of  the  Dutch  wagons  until  they  reached  the 
Modder  River,  where  they  all  arrived  late  at  night,  too 
late  to  cross,  as  the  river  was  very  dangerous  and  the 
night  as  dark  as  Egypt.  So  they  all  encamped  on  the 
bank  of  the  river.  My  master,  however,  remembering 
his  experience  at  the  Riet  River,  determined  not  to  be 
caught  again  in  a  similar  manner.  He  lay  awake 
all  night,  and  very  early  in  the  morning  of  the  follow- 
ing day,  gave  orders  to  yoke  in  and  start  across  the 
river.  The  current  was  very  swift,  and  the  water  just 
touched  the  bottom  of  the  wagon.  After  entering  the 
river  he  pulled  up  stream  about  two  hundred  yards  be- 
fore he  crossed  to  the  opposite  bank.  He  found  this 
bank  a  little  less  than  perpendicular,  and  full  of  ruts 
and  soft  mud,  and  there  was  only  room  for  one  wagon 
to  go  over  at  a  time.  Kellar  pushed  on  and  blocked 
the  way  with  his  wagon,  and  of  course  stuck 
fast.  When  the  Dutchmen  awoke  they  saw  the  state 
of  affairs,  and  sent  to  know  what  lie  would  pay  them 
to  help  pull  him  up.  The  Magician,  knowing  that  they 
could  not  pass  him  without  first  taking  him  up.  the 
hill,  told  them  he  was  in  no  hurry,  but  could  wait  for 
his  own  train.  However,  if  they  chose  to  pull  him  out 
in  order  to  be  able  to  pass  themselves,  they  were  wel- 
come to  do  so.  After  a  grea'j  many  kfc  Verdamte  Eng- 
landers"  and  other  curses,  they  pulled  my  master's 
wagon  up  the  hill,  and  he  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 
From  this  point  we  had  no  further  trouble  until  we 
reached  the  Kimberley  Diamond  Fields,  one  of  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  Kimberley  differed  from  any 
other  place  Kellar  had  ever  visited.  All  of  the 
houses  were  of  galvanized  iron.  The  streets  were 
malodorous  receptacles  of  empty  sardine  tins,  broken 
bottles,  dead  dogs  and  cats  and  refuse  generally.  Ev- 


150  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOTTE. 

erybody  was  busy  and  on  the  rush.  All  seemed  to  be 
diamond-mad,  and  at  night  they  spent  their  time 
drinking  bad  whiskey,  fighting,  and  in  other  amuse- 
ments. The  Kimberley  mine  is  a  deep  basin  that  was 
once  the  crater  of  a  volcano.  More  than  five  thousand 
men  were  employed  in  the  pit.  The  hundreds  of  wire 
ropes  running  down  from  all  sides  to  bring  up  the 
"  blue,"  gave  it  the  appearance  of  a  huge  spider's  web. 
The  walls  around  the  sides  of  the  mine  are  clearly  de- 
fined by  a  rocky  reef,  while  the  center  of  the  crater  is 
filled  with  bluish  clay,  in  which  the  diamonds  are  im- 
bedded. This  clay  in  the  mine  is  hard  as  rock,  and 
must  be  drilled  and  blasted.  It  is  then  put  into 
buckets  and  hauled  to  the  surface,  where  it  is  carted 
away  to  the  tables  (fiat  fields)  and  left  to  the  ac- 
tion of  the  elements  for  about  three  months.  This 
causes  it  to  crumble,  and  it  is  then  ready  for  the 
"wash-up,"  where  it  goes  through  a  process  of  wash- 
ing. The  mud  is  carried  away  by  the  water,  the  gravel 
and  stones  being  passed  over  a  series  of  sieves.  The 
very  large  stones  are  thrown  on  one  side,  while  the 
smaller  ones  are  carried  on  to  a  large  sorting  table,  and 
the  manager  with  a  scraper  carefully  sorts  this  residue, 
picking  out  the  precious  stones.  The  smallest  gems 
are  instantly  detected,  and  nothing  escapes  his  eagle 
eye.  In  dry  weather  the  streets  of  Kimberley  are  one 
mass  of  floury  dust,  that  enters  every  crevice  ;  and  on 
rainy  days  the  streets  present  the  appearance  of  rivers 
of  blue  mud.  When  the  rains  are  severe  and  long 
continued,  the  mines  fill  with  water,  and  appear  like 
immense  reservoirs.  Powerful  steam  pumps  then  work 
for  weeks  to  remove  the  water,  so  that  the  mines  can 
be  worked  again.  Besides  the  water  plague,  there  is 
an  occasional  caving  in  of  the  reef,  which  entails 
months  of  hard  work  for  hundreds  of  men  to  clear  away 
before  operations  can  be  resumed. 


SCENES   IN    THE   STREETS   OF    HEOGO,  JAPAN. 
lgl  See  page  190 


152  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

• 

SUBSTITUTE  FOB  JAILS. 

At  Kimberley  the  Magician's  success  was  enormous, 
the  golden  harvest  well  repaying  him  for  the  hardships 
he  had  undergone.  For  six  weeks  the  Theatre  Royal 
was  regularly  crowded  with  delighted  audiences.  At 
Kimberley  Mr.  Hodgkins,  who  had  continued  with  my 
master  since  the  sickness  of  Ling  Look  at  Hong  Kong-, 
left  the  company  to  become  secretary  of  the  Royal 
Stock  Exchange.  When  last  heard  of  by  my  master,  Mr. 
Hodgkins  was  still  at  Kimberley  and  doing  well.  In 
addition  to  his  prominence  in  civil  life,  he  had  become 
a  major  in  the  British  Cape  Army.  A  benefit  perform- 
ance in  aid  of  the  Carnarvon  Hospital,  which  my 
master  gave  at  Kimberley,  netted  nearly  $ 500. 

From  Kimberley  we  went  by  bullock  wagons 
through  the  Orange  Free  'State  to  Bossof,  to  Bloem- 
fontein,  to  Harry-Smith  and  New-Castle.  At  the  last- 
named  place  we  met  Aylward,  formerly  of  the  Natal 
Witness,  whose  articles  against  the  English  were  so 
scathing  that  he  was  forced  to  take  refuge  with  the 
Boers.  In  1886  my  master  again  met  Aylward  in  New 
York,  a  veritable  soldier  of  fortune.  He  had  had  a 
wonderful  career,  and  had  been  mixed  up  in  a  great 
many  schemes  against  England,  having  been  a  Fenian 
and  what  not.  Aylward  has  considerable  ability  as  a 
writer,  and  his  book  on  "  The  Transvaal "  is  exceed- 
ingly interesting. 

From  New-Castle  we  traveled  on  to  Pietermaritz- 
burg,  where  we  became  acquainted  with  Hon.  Freder- 
ick Conde  Williams,  then  Chief  Justice  of  Natal,  and 
one  of  those  broad-minded,  whole-souled  men,  who 


SUBSTITUTE  FOR   JAILS.  153 

make  the  world  better  for  having  lived  in  it.  Justice 
Williams  was  at  one  time  Chief  Justice  of  Kingston, 
Jamaica,  and  now  (1886)  is  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Mauritius.  He  has  novel  opinions  on  the 
question  of  punishment  for  crime,  and  my  master 
became  very  much  interested  in  his  views.  In  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette  of  February  5,  1886,  Justice  Will- 
iams published  the  following  paper,  which  summarized 
his  conclusions  on  this  subject: 

A    SUBSTITUTE    FOE   JAILS. 

Some  experience  as  a  practicing  barrister  on  circuit  and 
in  London,  and  more  as  one  of  her  Majesty's  judges  in 
various  colonies,  have  commended  to  the  writer  the  follow- 
ing conclusions  and  suggestions  upon  the  subject  of  crime 
and  punishment.  They  are  epitomized  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, in  the  earnest  hope  that  they  may  not  prove  wearisome 
to  the  reader  and  to  the  thinker,  but  rather  that  this  "seed 
sown  by  the  wayside  "  may  bear  some  goou  fruit  ;  if  not  in 
the  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  the  one  chief  change 
which  is  advocated,  at  least  in  increased  consideration 
attracted  to  a  subject  very  highly  important  to  humanity. 

Offenses  against  public  order  may  be  regarded  as  one  of 
two  classes — minor  offenses,  or  contraventions  ;  and  serious 
offenses,  or  crimes.  This  article  concerns  chiefly  the  latter 
class.  Punishment  for  crime  may  be  considered  to  possess 
a  threefold  object— first,  correctional,  as  applied  to  its  sub- 
ject ;  secondly,  deterrent,  in  the  case  of  its  subject  and  of 
the  public  ;  thirdly,  remedial,  in  the  case  of  its  subject. 
Our  present  punitive  system  fulfills,  of  course,  in  a  certain 
measure,  the  first  or  corrective  function — although  not, 
perhaps,  in  so  effective  a  form  as  the  systems  of  the  past, 
which  certainly  afforded  far  less  costly  methocs  of  corrective 
punishment  than  ours.  Our  present  punitive  system,  in  its 
purely  correctional  aspect,  may  be  more  theoretically  hu- 
mane than  its  predecessors  ;  but  is  it  essentially  advisable, 
in  the  interests  of  humanity,  that  the  correction  which  the 
naughty  bov  receives  in  a  flagellation  at  the  paternal  hand, 
should  in  fne  case  of  the  naughty  man  be  represented  by 
long  terms  of  hard  labor  and  penal  servitude,  undergone  at 
considerable  expense  to  the  public  ?  If  the  criminal  him- 


154  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUK. 

self  were  consulted,  he  might  possibly,  as  an  alternative, 
desire  a  return  to  earlier  and  simpler  methods.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  many  "jail  birds"  of  to-day  might  well  pre- 
fer a  few  hours  per  diern  for  a  short  season  in  the  pillory, 
or  a  flogging  at  a  cart's  tail,  or  the  loss  of  an  ear,  or  even  a 
turn  or  two  on  the  rack,  to  imprisonment  with  the  hard 
labor  of  shot-drill  or  treadmill,  extending  to  months  or 
even  years.  But  in  whatever  respect  our  present  punitive 
system  fulfils  the  first  or  merely  corrective  function  of  pun- 
ishment for  crime,  it  but  very  partially  fulfills  the  second  or 
deterrent  function  in  its  influence  on  the  criminal  or  on 
the  public  ;  and  fulfills  its  third  function,  in  its  remedial 
effect  on  the  subject  punished,  scarcely,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
at  all. 

Experience  has  failed  to  prove  that  severe  punishments 
have,  in  their  bearing  upon  crime,  a  deterrent  influence 
proportioned  to  their  severity.  When  death  was  the  pen- 
alty of  theft  beyond  the  value  of  a  shilling  or  so,  there 
were  probably  quite  as  many  thefts  in  proportion  to  the 
population,  and  in  consideration  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  time,  as  there,  are  now.  And  that  brutal  punishments 
tend  to  the  brutalization  of  their  subjects  and  of  the  pub- 
lic is  an  accepted  theory  of  the  day,  and  a  theory  with 
which  the  writer  is  little  inclined  to  quarrel.  As  regards 
the  subjects  of  crime,  our  present  punitive  system,  so  far 
from  operating  as  a  deterrent  and  a  remedial  influence, 
acts,  on  the  contrary,  to  state  the  matter  without  mincing 
it,  as  a  powerful  incentive  to  the  production  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  criminal  class.  For  one  person  whose  punish- 
ment points  him  to  better  courses,  or  effectually  warns  him 
from  evil  ones,  there  are  a  dozen  at  least  to  whom  the  jail, 
with  its  companionships  and  associations,  and  with  its  after 
legacy  of  degradation  and  haunting  police  supervision,  is 
the  very  nurserv  of  a  prolonged  and  professional  career  of 
crime.  It  is  this  last  and  gravest  consideration  which,  as 
We  cannot  return  to  brutal  punishments  as  an  alternative 
to  imprisonment,  prompts  the  suggestion  to  abolish  jails 
and  convict  establishments  altogether  as  an  element  in  the 
punishment  of  crime,  except  in  the  case  of  those  who  have 
proved  beyond  human  doubt  that  they  can  never  again  be 
trusted  with  liberty.  The  confirmed  and  habitual  criminal 


SUBSTITUTE  FOR   JAILS.  155 

of  our  present  system  may  never  have  had,  as  a  known  and 
marked  "  jail  bird, "  a  fair  and  free  chance  of  recovering 
himself,  and  becoming"  a  useful  member  of  society.  Given 
him  that  fair  and  free  chance,  and  given  it  over  and  over 
again  to  no  purpose,  let  him,  as  a  wholly  useless  and  abso- 
lutely dangerous  criminal  wastethrift,  be  deprived  alto- 
gether either  of  freedom  or  of  life.  The  death  penalty, 
under  such  a  system,  might  be  either  entirely  abolished  or 
entirely  extended  to  meet  the  case  of  the  habitual  criminal. 
But  for  the  convict  who  is  not  an  habitual  criminal,  what 
should  be  his  punishment?  If  jails  and  penal  settlements 
have  fined  the  honest  citizen  without  adequately  correct- 
ing, or  deterring,  or  reforming  the  dishonest  and  the  bad, 
what  measure  of  penalty  shall  be  meted  out,  supposing  our 
suggestion  to  be  adopted,  to  the  occasional  perpetrator  of 
crime?  Let  us  try  a  moral  penalty.  Let  us  have  recourse 
to  a  means  whereby  every  conviction  shall  be  recognized 
by  its  subject  as  a  certain  and  irrevocable  step  towards  the 
total  surrender  of  life  or  liberty,  if  he  persists  in  evil 
courses,  while  it  leaves  him  with  equal  consciousness  that  it 
is  in  his  own  power  before  that  consummation  is  reached  at 
any  moment  to  turn  to  a  wholesome  life,  and  in  that  event 
to  bury  his  past  from  human  ken.  Like  the  first  murderer, 
whose  sentence  was  determined  by  Almighty  wisdom,  he 
should  have  a  "mark  set  upon"  him  as  the  consequence 
even  of  his  first  crime;  but,  unlike  Cain,  his  "mark"  should 
not  be  such  as  to  be  seen  and  known  of  all  men.  Let 
means  be  devised  whereby  the  criminal  shall  carry  about 
with  him  such  definite  and  indelible  marks  of  past  convic- 
tion as  shall  not,  on  the  one  hand,  be  generally  apparent; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  shall  be  always  readily  ascertain- 
able  upon  a  fresh  conviction  for  crime.  In  the  multiply- 
ing of  these  indelible  marks,  the  ostensible  punishment 
for  each  offense  should  consist;  and  when  such  marks  are 
found,  upon  the  infliction  of  a  subsequent  punishment,  to 
have  reached  a  certain  number,  the  criminal's  term  of 
liberty  for  the  remainder  of  his  natural  life,  or  his  term  of 
existence  itself,  should,  ipso facto,  expire.  In  the  meantime, 
the  penalty  of  the  contravention  might  be  applied  to  the 
criminal,  upon  each  conviction,  as  a  correctional  influence, 
according  as  his  judge  might  think  it  advisable. 


156  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

The  simplest  and  most  effectual  method  of  keeping  the 
record  of  marks  would  consist  in  marking  the  subject  liter- 
ally. A  system  of  individual  registration  of  each  criminal 
and  of  each  offense  would  be  exceedingly  troublesome  and 
costly,  and  would,  besides,  involve  many  difficulties  as  to 
identification,  rendering  its  operation  uncertain.  A  livset 
system,  compelling  every  criminal  to  carry  about  a  record 
of  his  convictions,  would  put  a  premium  on  forgery,  fraud, 
and  all  sorts  of  'dodges'  to  secure  a  clean  bill  of  health,  or 
to  destroy  or  alter  an  unclean  one.  The  effectual  marking 
must  be  a  marking  indeed,  and  no  independent  record  of 
it  would  be  necessary  or  even  perhaps  advisable.  The  pain 
of  a  needle's  prick  for  each  indelible  puncture  is  all  that 
need  be  involved;  a  thousand  such  trifling  pangs  are  volun- 
tarily endured  in  the  ordinary  process  of  tattooing.  There 
is,  of  course,  a  ludicrous  side  to  the  entire  suggestion;  but 
the  writer  pleads  that  it  may  not  be  dismissed  with  nothing 
more  than  a  laugh.  The  marks  should  naturally  be  made 
on  a  concealed  portion  of  the  body.  The  law  should  pro- 
vide safeguards  for  secrecy  upon  the  part  of  those  who 
make  them  or  see  them,  until  they  arrive  at  the  maximum 
which  deprives  their  bearer  of  liberty  or  life.  A  register 
must  be  kept  of  those  who  have  proved  that  any  kindred 
marks  which  they  bear  are  natural,  or  have  been  made  ac- 
cidentally or  out  of  malice.  For  the  rest,  the  marks  them- 
selves, without  further  confirmation  or  corroboration,  should 
afford  prima  facie  evidence  of  former  convictions  fot 
crime.  Suppose  that  twelve  of  such  tattoo  marks  are  held 
sufficient  to  forfeit  a  man's  life  or  liberty,  unless  he  can 
show  to  the  satisfaction  of  authority  that  they  have  not 
been  inflicted  upon  him  in  the  way  of  legal  punishment. 
Conviction  of  a  first  crime,  possessing  no  features  of  extraor- 
dinary aggravation,  would  entail  upon  him  a  first  tattoo 
mark  with  the  punishment  of  a  contravention  added  or  not 
added,  according  to  the  judge's  discretion,  and  a  succession 
of  similar  convictions  should  add  one  mark  each  to  the 
record.  Or  if  a  cumulative  system  of  marking  wore 
adopted  (and  there  maybe  something  to  say  for  cumulative 
marking,  when  marking  only  is  the  chief  and  permanent 
penalty  exacted  for  each  offense),  the  second  conviction 
might  be  visited  with  two  marks,  and  the  third  with  three, 


157 


LADIES   OF   CEYLON. 


See  page  196 


158  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

while  a  fifth  conviction,  carrying  the  total  number  of  marks 
beyond  the  maximum  of  twelve,  would  involve  the  life  pen- 
alty. Where  the  crime  itself  presented  features  of  extraor- 
dinary aggravation,  its  punishment  might  be  the  addition 
of  two  or  more  marks  to  the  living  record,  instead  of  one; 
and  these  gradations  of  guilt  in  crime,  along  with  the 
number  of  marks  to  be  awarded  them,  should  be  strictly 
defined  by  law,  either  with  or  without  the  proviso  that  no 
first  offense  shall  be  visited  with  the  maximum  marks  in- 
volving the  immediate  life  penalty  to  a  first  offender.  To 
the  solitary  act  of  crime,  however  atrocious,  surely  one 
place  of  penitence  might  be  accorded. 

"  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  suggestion  which  it  is  the  object  of 
this  paper  to  bring  forward;  and  the  writer  claims  for  it 
the  following  among  other  merits:  That  it  would  rescue 
first  offenders  from  the  fearful,  lifelong  consequences  which 
now  too  often  attend  a  single  false  step  into  crime.  That  it 
would  afford  a  free  and  unfettered  locus  penitentice  to  every 
criminal,  so  long  as  a  locus  penitentice  is  likely  to  be  of  any 
good  service.  That,  while  stamping  out  in  the  long  run  the 
habitual  criminal,  it  would  rescue  every  criminal  from  be- 
ing confirmed  in  his  criminality  by  force  of  compulsory  asso- 
ciation and  police  persecution.  That  it  would  be  eminently 
economical  to  the  public  purse,  involving  the  abolition  of  our 
convict  establishments  and  jails,  and  possibly  a  reduction 
in  our  police  force,  which  expends  its  energies  largely  on 
watching  and  tracking  old  offenders.  And,  last  but  not 
least,  that  it  would  put  an  end  to  the  ridiculous  and  scan- 
dalous anomalies  which  every  day's  experience  shows  to 
attend  the  apportionment  of  punishment  to  crime  in  the 
criminal  courts  of  our  country  and  of  her  colonies — anoma- 
lies to  which  enlightened  judges  like  the  present  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  England  have  taken  occasion  from  time  to 
time  to  allude.  'On  Saturday,'  says  the  late  issue  of  a 
Birmingham  newspaper,  *  for  the  second  time  during  the 
Warwick  assizes,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  commented  upon 
disproportionate  sentences.  It  transpired  that  a  prisoner 
named  Christopher  Owen,  charged  with  stealing  two  fowls, 
had  already  undergone  eighteen  months'  imprisonment  for 
a  similar  offense,  whereupon  his  lordship  said:  "  I  cannot 
impose  such  a  sentence  as  that.  What  should  I  do  if  a 


SUBSTITUTE  FOR  JAILS.  159 

prisoner  came  before  me  for  committing  some  outrageous 
crime,  if  eighteen  months  is  not  too  much  for  stealing  two 
fowls?"  His  lordship  then  proceeded  to  pass  a  sentence  of 
of  six  weeks'  imprisonment  with  hard  labor.'  Unfortu- 
nately for  the  sacred  cause  of  mercy  combined  with  justice, 
few  judges  hold  kindred  views." 

Justice  Williams  was  very  much  interested  in 
Kellar,  and.  found  much  to  amuse,  instruct  and  mystify 
him  in  his  performances.  As  their  intimacy  grew, 
and  he  became  familiar  with  some  of  the  Magician's 
experiences,  he  urged  upon  my  master  the  advisa- 
bility of  writing  a  book,  in  which  the  story  of  his 
various  tours  of  the  world  should  be  told,  and  to 
that  inspiration  the  present  volume  owes  its  existence. 

Kellar's  next  stop  was  at  Durban,  and  here  he 
was  delightfully  received.  The  following  extract  from 
the  Natal  Mercury,  of  June  21,  1881,  gives  a  fair  idea 
of  the  tone  of  the  press  criticism  throughout  South 
America : 

Who  is  Kellar?  He  is  one  of  the  cleverest  public  enter- 
tainers who  ever  visited  Durban,  or  anywhere  else.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  platform  magicians  we  have  ever 
seen,  and  our  memory  goes  back  to  the  palmy  days  of  the 
great  Wizard  of  the  North.  We  were  very  glad  that  he 
had  such  a  good  house  to  welcome  him  on  Saturday  night, 
at  the  Trafalgar,  and  have  little  fear  that,  as  the  fame  of 
his  wondrous  performances  spreads  through  the  town,  he 
will  have  overflowing  audiences.  There  is  a  finish  and 
grace  about  Mr.  Kellar's  entertainments  that  takes  us  back 
to  some  of  those  well  ordered  scenes  at  home,  say  at  the 
Egyptian  Hall,  Piccadilly.  Indeed  there  semblance  to  the 
exhibition  of  Maskelyne  and  Cooke  at  the  Egyptian-  Hall, 
London,  is  quite  striking,  as  we  have  at  Mr.  Kellar's  in  per- 
fection all  the  astounding,  automata,  which  Maskelyne  has 
made  himself  famous  with.  There  is  nothing  in  Mr.  Kel- 
lar's performance  to  offend  the  most  delicate  rnind,  and  yet 
there  is  enough  in  it  to  puzzle  and  baffle  the  wisest  and 
shrewdest  Durbanites — and  we  have  a  few  wise  and  shrewd 
ones  amongst  us.  Kellar  is  a  most  excellent  master  of  the 


160  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

black  art,  a  perfect  Prince  of  Darkness,  if  he  will  permit 
us  to  so  libel  him;  and  yet  he  works  his  spells  with  such 
ease  and  nonchalance,  that  we  sit  still,  quite  content  to  be 
so  deliciously  humbugged.  He  is  a  sorcerer  of  the  first 
water,  a  most  gentlemanly  necromancer;  and,  although 
Dante  would  have  condemned  him  to  eternal  punishment,  as 
he  does  all  magicians  indiscriminately,  we  hope  he  will  live 
long  to  dazzle  his  patrons  with  his  wonders.  Is  that  enough 
about  him?  It  is  surely  high  enough  praise,  and  unless 
we  look  up  the  dictionary,  we  cannot  find  any  better  to  say 
of  Kellar.  As  to  describe  his  performance,  that  is  not 
possible.  W^e  are  still  so  overwrought  with  the  spell  he 
worked  on  us,  that  all  the  dear  delusions  of  the  night  have 
become  mixed  up  in  one  pleasant  phantasmagoria.  We 
shall  try  to  collect  our  thoughts  before  we  write  about  him 
again,  and  meanwhile  we  cordially  recommend  any  in  Dur- 
ban, or  out  of  it,  who  want  to  pass  as  pleasant  a  couple 
of  hours  as  they  could  wish,  to  go  and  see  Kellar;  he  is  at 
the  Trafalgar  every  night  this  week. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

CHINESE    GORDON. 

From  Durban  Kellar  went  to  Port  Louis,  Mau- 
ritius, on  the  steamer  Lapland.  He  found  the  Victo- 
ria Loftus  troupe  occupying  the  theater,  but  they  left 
on  the  steamer  that  brought  the  Magician  to  Port  Louis, 
thus  leaving  him  a  free  field.  His  reception  amounted 
to  an  ovation.  The  place  was  packed  nightly.  Special 
trains  were  run  from  Curepipe,  and  other  points,  and 
the  popular  enthusiasm  was  unbounded.  The  Govern- 
ment gave  the  theater  and*  gas  free,  and  Kellar 
gave  a  benefit  performance  for  the  poor  of  the  city, 
which  netted  upwards  of  1,000  rupees.  It  was  on  the 
12th  of  August  that  Mr.  Kellar  opened  at  Port  Louis, 
and  it  was  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  September  that 


CHINESE   GORDON.  161 

he  made  his  last  appearance.  Following  is  the  account 
of  Kellar's  last  appearance,  as  given  in  the  Senti- 
nel of  Mauritius,  of  September  6,  1881 : 

MR.  KELLAR'S  LAST  PERFORMANCE. 

Last  night  Mr.  Kellar  appeared  at  the  theater  once 
more,  in  a  benevolent  character.  The  last  performance  but 
two,  which  has  been  given  on  his  own  account,  was  for  the 
benefit  of  the  poor  of  Port  Louis,  and  last  night  he  lent  his 
services  to  a  brother  artist.  If  he  has  been  able  to  be  so 
generous  during  the  very  short  stay  he  has  been  amongst 
us,  the  credit  of  his  acts  must  be  equally  divided  between 
himself  and  that  public  which  has  so  highly  appreciated  his 
talents  as  & prestidigitateiir,  and  so  liberally  extended  to 
him  their  patronage.  On  every  occasion  of  his  appearance 
ho  has  drawn  good  houses,  and  when  the  theater  has  not 
been  actually  crowded,  there  has  been  always  some  coun- 
ter-attraction in  the  shape  of  a  ball,  or  some  other  public 
gathering.  It  can,  therefore,  be  truly  said  of  Mr.  Kellar, 
that  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  successful  artists  that  has 
visited  this  island  for  several  years  past.  And  it  will  be 
admitted  that  he  fully  deserves  all  he  has  achieved.  His 
various  feats  of  prestidigitation  are  simply  marvelous  to  all 
but  the  initiated,  and  they  are  performed  with  an  amount 
of  ease  and  dexterity  that  imparts  to  them  an  appearance  of 
reality.  That  they  can  be  enjoyed  more  than  once  has 
been  proved  by  the  appearance,  night  after  night,  of  the 
same  persons — not  merely  of  men  desirous  of  passing  away 
their  time,  but  of  whole  families  who  can  not  attend  public 
assemblies  without  incurring  some  expense,  and  sacrificing 
their  personal  convenience. 

Passing  from  conjuring  to  the  second  part  of  the  per- 
formance, the  audience  is  puzzled  to  understand  the  mar- 
velous calculating  powers  of  Psycho.  No  intelligent  per- 
son believes  that  those  powers  are  inherent  in  a  mere  auto- 
maton. We  can  understand  the  possibility  of  the  me- 
chanical construction  of  a  figure  capable  of  reading  a 
series  of  numbers,  and  solving  the  most  difficult  arithmet- 
ical problems.  But,  in  order  to  do  that,  these  must  have 
been  calculated  beforehand,  and  the  figure  could  only 
answer  them,  and  none  other,  whilst  their  number  must  be 
11 


of  necessity  restricted  within  certain  limits.  Whereas, 
with  regard  to  Psycho,  any  member  of  the  audience  may 
propound  any  problem  he  or  she  pleases,  either  in  square 
or  cube  rootr  the  answer  to  which  may  be  a  whole  number 
or  in  decimals.  Such  being  the  case,  it  is  evident  that  the 
human  intelligence  which  controls  the  movements  of  the 
figure  has  to  make  calculations  and  combinations  of  figures 
in  the  time  necessary  to  write  down  the  results,  which 
leave  the  spectators  bewildered  as  to  the  way  in  which 
they  are  obtained.  Echo,  the  cornet  player,  and  Clio,  the 
sketching  figure,  have  each  attracted  a  great  share  of  atten- 
tion. 

The  dark  seance  has  puzzled  the  public  as  much  as  any 
other  part  of  the  performance.  Mr.  Kellar  is  tied  fast  by 
the  hands  to  a  chair,  in  which  he  takes  his  seat  inside  the 
cabinet.  Any  member  of  the  audience  is  at  liberty  to  tie 
Mr.  Kellar,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  always  a  com- 
mittee to  represent  the  audience.  In  ten  seconds  he  is 
untied,  and  performs  many  marvelous  feats,  and  when  the 
door  is  opened  he  is  found  tied  as  before.  It  would  be 
tedious,  however,  to  recapitulate  all  the  different  features 
which  rendered  the  whole  performance  a  very  attractive 
one.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  no  one  has  left  the  theater 
disappointed  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  majority  of  those  who 
went  have  repeated  their  visit  more  than  once. 

Should  this  paper  precede  Mr.  Kellar  to  any  of  the 
countries  he  may  happen  to  visit,  all  we  have  to  say  is — 
**  Go  and  see  him." 

If  the  people  of  Port  Louis  were  delighted  with 
Kellar,  he  was  charmed  with  them  and  their 
beautiful  island.  From  its  mountainous  character 
Mauritius  is  most  picturesque,  and  its  scenery  is 
exquisitely  varied.  There  are  three  principal  masses 
of  mountains.  The  most  important  is  the  Ponce 
range,  which  consists  of  one  principal  ridge  with 
several  lateral  spurs.  Overlooking  Port  Louis  are  the 
singular  peaks  of  the  Ponce  (2650  feet),  so  called  from 
its  supposed  resemblance  to  the  human  thumb,  and 
the  still  loftier  Pieter  Botte,  a  tall  obelisk  of  bare  rock 


163 


AN   ELEPHANT   HUNT—CEYLON. 


See  page  196 


164  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR 

crowned  with  a  globular  mass  of  stone.  The 
favorite  place  of  residence  is  Curepipe,  situated 
about  1800  feet  above  the  sea.  The  climate  there 
resembles  that  of  the  South  of  France.  Extensive 
sugar  plantations,  and  the  vegetation  of  both  the  torrid 
and  temperate  zones,  give  a  peculiar  charm  to  the 
landscape.  Although  now  under  English  rule,  Mauri- 
tius has  largely  retained  its  old  French  laws  and 
customs,  and  the  island  is  still  markedly  French  in 
language,  habits  and  predilections. 

At  Port  Louis  Kellar  became  acquainted  with 
Colonel  Charles  G.  Gordon  ("  Chinese  "  Gordon)  and 
took  a  trip  with  him  to  Bourbon  Reunion,  one  of  the 
most  delightful  islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  The 
climate  is  salubrious  despite  the  great  summer  heat, 
and  a  large  population  live  happily  on  its  sloping 
mountain  sides  and  its  high  central  plateaus.  Col. 
Gordon  and  my  master  visited  Selazee,  a  station  on 
the  mountain,  from  which  a  magnificent  view  was 
obtained.  Col.  Gordon  was  a  great  admirer  of  the 
beautiful,  and  he  was  enthusiastic  over  the  scene.  In 
a  newspaper  interview  in  February,  1885,  Kellar 
gave  his  experience  with  Col.  Gordon  in  the  following 
language : 

"I  met  Col.  Gordon  on  April  8, 1881,  on  the  Island 
of  Mauritius,  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  He  was  on  his 
way  home  to  England,  and  had  stopped  to  visit  brother 
officers  of  the  garrison.  I  had  been  invited  to  mess  by 
military  friends,  and  was  introduced  to  a  slightly  built, 
tall  man,  apparently  about  forty  years  of  age.  He 
was  of  fair  complexion,  with  blonde  hair,  blonde 
mustache,  slightly  streaked  with  gray,  and  the 
merest  suggestion  of  side  whiskers.  '  Colonel  Gordon  ' 
were  the  words  used  in  the  introduction,  and  I  never 
dreamed  that  the  unassuming  man  who  grasped  my 
hand  was  the  famous  c  Chinese  '  Gordon. 

"  My  first  impression  of  Gordon,  before  I  learned  his 
military  titie,  and,  in  fact,  before  I  was  introduced, 


CHINESE  GORDOtf.  165 

was  that  he  was  a  shrewd  business  man  traveling  for 
pleasure.  He  wore  no  uniform,  and  his  manner 
suggested  nothing  of  the  service,  nor  conveyed  any  idea 
of  position  or  authority.  Yet  from  the  start  I  was 
attracted  to  him.  There  was  something  magnetic  about 
him,  and  you  were  drawn  to  the  man  without  knowing 
or  caring  why.  It  flatters  me  to  say  that  the  attraction 
seemed  to  be  mutual,  and  although  I  was  with  Gordon 
for  only  two  weeks,  a  warm  and  lasting  friendship 
grew  up  between  us.  When  I  left,  he  gave  me  these 
cards  of  introduction." 

Mr.  Keller  showed  two  small  visiting  cards,  in  the 
corners  of  which  "  Chinese  "  Gordon  had  written  a  few 
words  in  pencil.  One  read  as  follows : 

Sir  Thomas   Wade,  K.C.B. 

Colonel   Charles  G.   Gordon^ 

Royal  Engineers. 
To  introduce 

Mr.  Kellar. 

The  plate  was  engraved  in  a  very  small  and  neat 
script,  with  no  flourishes  or  ornamentation.  The  other 
card  was  to  this  effect : 

To  introduce  Mr  Kellar. 

Colonel  Charles  G.  Gordon, 

Royal  Engineers. 

A  Son  Excellence, 

Li  Hung  Chang, 

Grand  Secretary. 

"  When  I  was  leaving  the  island  of  Mauritius  on  my 
way  to  India,  Col.  Gordon  asked  me  whether  I  intend- 
ed to  stop  in  China  again,  and  on  my  answering  in  the 
affirmative,  he  gave  these  introductions,  remarking 
that  they  might  be  of  service  to  me.  Sir  Thomas 
Wade  was  British  Minister  at  Pekin,  and  Chang  was 
the  Grand  Secretary  of  the  Empire.  When  I  reached 
China  I  had  no  opportunity  of  presenting  them,  and  so 


166  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUU. 

they  remain  in  my  possession,  as  souvenirs  of  a 
magnificent  man. 

14  Gordon  was  a  constant  attendant  at  my  perform- 
ances. He  was  an  enthusiast,  bright,  brilliant  and 
jovial — a  jolly,  unassuming  man  of  the  world.  He 
made  a  splendid  companion  anywhere,  but  more 
particularly  aboard  ship,  where  one's  amusements  are 
limited,  and  where  time  hangs  heavily  on  one's  hands. 
We  made  a  trip  together  to  the  Island  of  Bourbon. 
A  few  days  later  he  left  for  home  by  way  of  Aden,  on 
the  French  steamer  Dupleix.  That  was  the  last  I 
have  ever  seen  of  '  Chinese '  Gordon,  though  I  hope  to 
meet  him  again." 

Long  after  Col.  Gordon  had  been  butchered  by  the 
followers  of  El  Mahdi,  at  Khartoum,  in  the  Soudan, 
on  the  27th  of  December,  1884,  Kellar  had  faith 
that  he  would  turn  up  all  right.  He  could  not  for  a 
long  time  believe  that  a  man  of  his  peculiar  magnetism 
and  wonderful  power  over  barbarous  and  semi-barbar- 
ous people  would  be  killed  by  them.  Treachery  was 
a  danger  that  the  Magician  did  not  take  into  considera- 
tion, for  he  did  not  believe  that  any  one  would  be 
false  to  Col.  Gordon. 

The  steamer  Maurice-Reunion  took  my  master  to 
Bombay,  where  he  played  at  the  Gaiety  Theatre  to 
mod-era  tety  good  audiences.  On  the  invitation  of  Mr. 
Cowasjee  Framjee,  the  proprietor  of  Lowjee  Castle,  he 
gave  a  special  performance  before  a  select  party  of  Eng- 
lish ladies  and  gentlemen,  receiving  1,000  rupees  in 
payment.  He  next  visited  Allahabad,  Cawnpore, 
Lucknow,  Delhi  and  Agra,  with  indifferent  success 
throughout,  and  barely  paying  expenses.  He  then 
proceeded  to  Calcutta,  where  for  two  months  he  had 
the  grandest  success  of  his  career,  outside  of  Brazil. 

Kellar's  performances  were,  as  before,  given  at 
the  Chowringhee  Theatre  Royal,  and  he  enjoyed  the 
patronage  of  the  Marquis  of  Ripon  ;  Sir  Ashley  Eden, 
G.  C.  S.  L,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal;  General 


CHINESE  GORDON.  167 

Sir  Donald  H.  Stewart,  G.  C.  B.,  C.  S.  L,  Commander- 
in-Chief  in  India,  and  of  other  notables.  The  popular 
estimate  of  the  Magician's  ability  was  clearly  expressed 
in  the  Asian  of  January  3,  1882,  as  follows: 

"  For  many  a  day, 
We  have  heard  people  say 
That  a  wondrous  magician  was  Heller ; 
Change  the  H  into  K, 
And  the  E  into  A, 
And  you  have  his  superior  in  Kellar." 

While  filling  this  engagement  at  Calcutta,  Kel- 
lar heard  much  of  the  manifestations  produced  by  Mr. 
Eglinton,  a  professed  spiritual  medium,  who  was  giv- 
ing seances  there.  As  my  master  was  advertised  as  an 
exposer  of  the  frauds  of  so-called  mediums,  his  pres- 
ence in  the  city  at  this  juncture  caused  something  of  a 
sensation  in  spiritualistic  circles.  Mr.  Gordon,  chief 
of  the  Howra  police,  and  his  wife,  were  firm  believers 
in  Mr.  Eglinton's  supernatural  power.  Mrs.  Gordon 
was  also  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Theosophists,  a  sect 
that  claims  to  hold  intercourse  with  God  and  superior 
spirits,  the  members  of  which  consequently  attained 
superhuman  knowledge  by  physical  processes,  as  by 
theurgic  operations  of  some  ancient  Platonists,  or  by 
the  chemical  processes  of  the  German  fire  philosophers. 
It  was  not  long  before  Mrs.  Gordon  sent  Kellar  an 
invitation  to  dine  with  her,  and  it  was  then  that  she 
proposed  that  he  arrange  a  time  when  he  could  be 
present  at  one  of  Mr.  Eglinton's  seances.  Mrs.  Gordon 
was  a  refined  lady,  and  a  woman  of  superior  intelli- 
gence, combined  with  a  remarkable  knowledge  of  the 
world,  and  an  abundance  of  sound  common  sense.  She 
was  very  anxious  to  convince  the  Magician  of  the  truth 
of  spiritualism,  and  to  bring  him  to  a  realizing  sense  of 
the  wrong  he  was  doing  by  his  so-called  exposes. 
Mrs.  Gordon  described  a  remarkable  seance  she  had 
had  with  Madame  Blavatski,  at  Simla,  when  in  broad 
daylight,  at  Mrs.  Gordon's  request,  a  shower  of  roses 


168  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

fell  upon  the  table,  apparently  through  the  ceiling, 
without  visible  cause.  She  also  told  how  she  recov- 
ered a  jewel  that  had  been  lost  some  years  before. 
Kellar  was  convinced  that  Mrs.  Gordon  gave  a  faithful 
description  of  the  phenomena  as  they  appeared  to  her, 
and  whether  her  senses  had  been  deceived,  or  not,  that 
was  a  matter  on  which  he  could  not  pass  judgment. 
She  was  certainly  honest  in  her  conviction.  Madame 
Blavatski's  character  was  not  such  as  to  render  her  in- 
capable of  deceit.  She  was  a  Russian  Princess,  and 
had  had  a  checkered  career  as  an  adventurist. 

On  the  first  evening  that  Kellar  could  devote  to 
that  purpose  he  visited  Mr.  Eglinton's  seance,  and  was 
very  much  surprised  by  what  he  saw.  He  afterward 
attended  a  dark  seance,  given  by  the  same  gentleman, 
and  saw  even  more  startling  manifestations.  He  de- 
scribed both  of  these  experiences  in  the  letters  given 
below: 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Indian  Daily  News.  SIR  :  In 
your  issue  of  the  13th  of  January,  I  stated  that  I  should  be 
glad  of  an  opportunity  of  participating  in  a  seance,  with  a 
view  of  giving  an  unbiased  opinion  as  to  whether  in  my  ca- 
pacity of  a  professional  presticUgitateur,  I  could  give  a  nat- 
ural explanation  of  effects  said  to  be  produced  by  spiritual 
aid.  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Eglinton,the  spi rit- 
ualistic medium  now  in  Calcutta,  and  of  his  host,  Mr.  J. 
Mougens,  for  affording  me  the  opportunity  I  craved. 

It  is  needless  to  say  I  went  as  a  skeptic,  but  I  must  own 
I  have  come  away  entirely  unable  to  explain,  by  any  nat- 
ural means,  the  phenomena  that  1  witnessed  on  Tuesday 
evening.  I  will  give  a  brief  description  of  what  took  place. 

I  was  seated  in  a  brilliantly  lighted  room  with  Mr.  Eg- 
linton  and  Mr.  Meugens.  We  took  our  places  around  a 
common  teak-wood  table,  and  after  a  few  minutes  the  table 
began  to  sway  violently  backwards  and  forwards,  and  I 
heard  noises  such  as  might  be  produced  by  some  thumping 
under  the  table.  I  tried  to  discover  the  cause  of  this  move- 
ment, but  was  unable  to  do  so.  After  this,  Mr.  Eglinton 
produced  two  common  school  slates,  which  1  sponged, 


170  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

cleaned  and  rubbed  dry  with  a  towel  myself.  Mr.  Eglinton 
then  handed  me  a  box  containing  small  crumbs  of  slate  pen- 
cil. I  selected  one  of  these,  and,  in  accordance  with  Mr. 
Eglinton's  directions,  placed  it  on  the  surface  of  one  of  the 
slates,  placing  the  other  slate  over  it,  then  firmly  grasping 
the  two  slates  at  one  of  the  corners.  Mr.  Eglinton  then 
held  the  other  corner,  our  two  free  hands  being  clasped  to- 
gether. The  slates  were  then  lowered  below  the  edge  of 
the  table,  but  remained  in  full  view,  the  room  remaining  light 
all  the  time.  Instantaneously  I  heard  a  scratching  noise,  as 
might  be  produced  by  writing  on  a  slate.  In  about  fifteen 
seconds  I  heard  three  distinct  knocks  on  the  slates,  and  I 
then  opened  them  and  found  the  following  writing  : 

"My  name  is  Geary.  Don't  you  remember  me?  We 
used  to  talk  of  this  matter  at  the  St.  George's.  I  know  bet- 
ter now." 

Having  read  the  above  I  remarked  that  I  knew  no  one 
by  the  name  of  Geary. 

We  then  placed  our  hands  on  the  table,  and  Mr.  Eglin- 
ton commenced  repeating  the  alphabet  until  we  came  to 
the  letter  "  G,"  when  the  table  began  to  shake  violently. 
This  process  was  repeated  till  the  name  of  Geary  was 
spelled. 

After  this  Mr.  Eglinton  took  a  piece  of  paper  and  a  pen- 
cil, and,  with  a  convulsive  movement  difficult  to  describe, 
he  wrote  very  indistinctly  the  following  words: 

"  I  am  Alfred  Geary,  of  the  Lantern.  You  know  me 
and  St.  Ledger." 

Having  read  this  I  suddenly  remembered  having  met 
both  Mr.  Geary  and  Mr.  St.  Ledger  at  Cape  Town,  South 
Africa,  about  four  years  ago,  and  the  St.  George's  Hotel  is 
the  one  I  lived  at  there.  Mr.  Geary  was  the  editor  of  the 
Gape  Lantern.  I  believe  he  died  some  three  years  ago. 
Mr.  St.  Ledger  was  the  editor  of  the  Cape  Times,  and,  I 
believe,  is  so  still.  Without  going  into  details,  I  may 
mention  that  subsequently  a  number  of  other  messages 
were  written  on  the  slates,  which  I  was  allowed  to  clean 
each  time  before  they  were  used. 

In  respect  to  the  above  manifestations,  I  can  only  say 
that  I  do  not  expect  my  account  of  them  to  gain  general 
credence.  Forty-eight  hours  before,  I  should  not  have  be- 


CHINESE  GOBDON.  171 

lieved  anyone  who  had  described  such  manifestations  under 
similar  circumstances.  1  still  remain  a  skeptic  as  regards 
spiritualism,  but  I  repeat  my  inability  to  explain  or  account 
for  what  must  have  been  an  intelligent  force  that  produced 
the  writing  on  that  slate,  which,  if  my  senses  are  to  be  re- 
lied on,  was  in  no  way  the  result  of  trickery  or  sleight-of- 
hand.  Yours,  etc.,  HARRY  KELLAR. 
Calcutta,  January  25,  1882. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Indian  Daily  News.  SIR  :  As 
you  have  been  interested  in  my  experiences  with  the  spir- 
itualists in  Calcutta,  I  send  you  an  account  of  a — to  me — 
wonderful  dark  seance  that  I  attended  on  Sunday  night. 
A  party  consisting  of  Mr.  J.  Meugens,  Lord  William  Beres- 
ford,  Mrs.  Gordon,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nicholls,  Mr.  Eglinton 
and  myself,  met  at  No.  1  Commercial  Building,  Sunday 
evening.  We  assembled  in  a  large  room  with  very  little 
furniture  in  it,  and  all  the  doors  were  bolted  from  inside 
and  examined  by  me.  The  party  of.  eight  then  seated 
themselves  around  a  plain  teak-wood  table,  on  which  were 
placed  two  musical  boxes,  a  zither  and  a  scroll  of  paper. 
The  party  having  joined  hands  to  form  a  circle,  1  having 
hold  of  Mr.  Eglinton's  on  one  side,  the  lights  were  put  out. 
Almost  immediately  afterwards  I  felt  Mr.  Eglinton's  leg 
brushing  past  mine  as  he  commenced  to  ascend.  As  he 
got  up  to  the  full  extent  of  my  arm,  still  keeping  a  firm  hold 
on  my  hand,  1  jumped  on  a  chair  and  subsequently  mounted 
on  the  table.  Mr.  Eglinton  still  continued  to  ascend,  and 
for  a  few  seconds  lifted  me  off  my  feet,  several  inches 
above  the  table,  and  I  slid  backwards  on  to  my  seat.  The 
party  joining  hands  again,  several  of  us,  myself  among  the 
number,  were  sensible  of  the  touch  of  cold,  clammy  hands 
that  felt  more  like  the  wing  of  a  bat  than  anything  else  I 
can  describe,  though  the  feel  of  the  fingers  was  distinct. 
After  this,  small  green  lights  appeared  and  disappeared  on 
and  around  the  table.  We  then  heard  the  musical  boxes 
being  wound  up,  and  then  they  commenced  playing  fast 
or  slow,  as  directed  by  any  of  our  party.  I  asked  that 
three  notes  only  should  be  played,  and  then  one,  which 
was  immediately  done.  The  boxes  then  commenced  float- 
ing about  the  room,  the  large  box  descending  lightly  on 


172  A 

my  head  three  times.  One  of  the  party  suggested  that  the 
same  box  should  touch  Lord  W.  Beresford,  and  the  box 
tapped  him  lightly  three  times  on  the  head.  The 
zither  next  passed  close  by  my  head,  just  brush- 
ing my  forehead.  Shortly  after  a  slight  rav  of  moon- 
light was  visible  through  a  portion  of  the  win- 
dow shutters.  I  leaned  back  in  my  chair  so  as  to  get 
this  beam  of  light  in  a  line  with  my  vision,  and 
almost  immediately  I  saw  the  zither  pass  across,  and  ap- 
peared to  be  floating  by  itself.  One  of  the  audience  then 
requested  that  it  should  play  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  and 
the  plaintive  air  was  distinctly  heard.  Without  detailing 
the  other  phenomena,  1  may  state  that  my  chair  was  sud- 
denly jerked  from  under  me  with  great  force,  and  when 
the  light  was  turned  up  I  found  it  on  the  table.  In  con- 
clusion let  me  state  that,  after  a  most  stringent  trial  and 
strict  scrutiny  of  these  wonderful  experiences,  I  can  arrive 
at  no  other  conclusion  than  that  there  was  no  trace  of 
trickery  of  any  form/ nor  was  there  in  the  room  any  mech- 
anism or  machinery  by  which  could  be  produced  the  phe- 
nomena which  had  taken  place.  The  ordinary  method  by 
which  Maskelyne  and  other  conjurers  imitate  levitation,  or 
the  floating  test,  could  not  possibly  be  used  in  the  room  in 
which  we  were  assembled. 

Yours,   etc.,  HARRY  KELLAR. 

The  Magician  was  naturally  very  much  exercised  by 
what  he  had  seen.  He  sought  for  means  to  reproduce, 
by  natural  means,  all  that  Mr.  Eglinton  had  done, 
except  the  levitation.  He  succeeded  after  much  study 
and  many  experiments.  Of  course  he  makes  no  claim 
to  performing  the  tricks  by  the  same  means  that  Mr. 
Eglinton  used.  It  may  be  that  he  uses  the  same 
method,  and  it  may  be  otherwise.  He  simply  knows 
that  he  produces  the  same  results.  He  explained  to 
his  own  satisfaction  how  Mr.  Eglinton  could  have 
gained  information  regarding  his  Cape  friends  men- 
tioned in  the  writing  on  the  slate.  When  Kellar 
played  at  Cape  Town,  in  1878,  he  performed  at  the 
Athenaeum  Hall.  The  proprietor  of  the  hall,  Mr. 


CHINESE  GOKDON.  173 

Hutchinson,  was  a  noted  spiritualist,  and  when  he 
found  that  my  master  was  exposing  spiritual  phenom- 
ena, lie  set  himself  in  strong  opposition,  and  wrote  many 
letters  to  the  Gape  papers  denouncing  the  Magician. 
This  action  only  had  the  effect  of  increasing  Kel- 
lar's  business.  His  houses  were  crowded  nightly  by 
the  best  people,  and  on  the  occasion  of  Sir  Bartle 
Frere's  visit  both  houses  of  Parliament  adjourned  and 
attended  in  a  body.  Mr.  Eglinton  followed  Kellar 
at  the  Cape,  and,  as  the  latter  long  afterward  ascer- 
tained, was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Hutchinson.  Is  there 
anything  unreasonable  in  the  supposition,  therefore, 
that  Mr.  Hutchinson  told  Mr.  Eglinton  a  great  deal 
about  Kellar's  affairs  and  his  friends  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  ? 

Regarding  the  levitation  feat,  my  master  has  never 
been  able  to  reach  a  satisfactory  explanation.  What 
puzzles  him  most  is  how  he  could  have  been  pulled  up 
by  Mr.  Eglinton  without  feeling  his  own  weight  on  his 
hand  and  arm.  He  seemed  to  lose  gravity.  Whether 
the  occurrence  was  actual,  and  not  a  mere  mental  illu- 
sion, he  is  not  prepared  to  say.  It  assuredly  was  a 
wonderful  and  unaccountable  performance.  Kellar 
regretted  that  he  had  no  other  opportunity  to  witness 
similar  manifestations. 

The  Magician  brought  his  season  at  Calcutta  to  a 
close  while  he  was  still  enjoying  excellent  patronage. 
Daniel  Bandmann  reached  the  city  with  his  company, 
and  he  had  no  place  in  which  to  give  his  performances. 
My  master,  with  his  usual  liberality,  turned  his  unex- 
pired  lease  over  to  Mr.  Bandmann  without  royalty  or 
compensation  of  any  kind. 

Before  leaving  Calcutta  Kellar  went  with  Mr. 
Bandmann,  at  midnight,  in  a  gharry,  to 'visit  the 
famous  burning  ghats,  or  open  crematories,  on  the 
steps  at  the  river  side  where  dead  bodies  are  incinera- 
ted. It  was  a  weird  and  impressive  sight.  They  saw 
a  number  of  bodies  burned,  but  were  most  impressed 


174  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

with  the  actions  of  a  poor  blind  woman,  whose 
daughter  was  dead.  She  WHS  too  poor  to  get  fuel 
enough  to  make  a  proper  pyre,  so  she  arranged  a  small 
one.  The  body  of  the  dead  girl  was  trussed  very 
much  as  that  of  a  chicken  would  be  that  was  about  to 
be  baked.  There  was  not  fire  enough  to  completely 
consume  the  remains.  The  bodies  of  rich  Hindoos  are 
burned  with  a  fire  made  of  costly  wood,  and  so  in  these 
last  rites  the  treatment  of  the  dead  indicates  the  wealth 
and  position  of  the  deceased. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

AMONG  THE  KANGAROOS. 

From  Calcutta  Kellar  went  to  Batavia,  Java, 
his  season  there  reaching  from  the  5th  to  the  23d 
of  March,  1882.  He  became  a  victim  of  Java  fever 
during  this  visit,  and  was  very  sick,  but  a  good  consti- 
tution and  good  care  brought  him  through,  and  at  the 
end  of  April  he  sailed  for  Melbourne,  Australia,  where 
he  opened  in  St.  George's  Hall  on  May  6th,  under 
the  management  of  Mr.  James  Allison.  Here,  as  else- 
where, his  performances  created  a  furore,  and  the 
more  notable  features  were  reproduced  in  an  illustrated 
paper,  the  Sketcher.  He  played  in  St.  George's  Hall 
until  June  7th,  and  then  made  a  very  satisfactory  tour 
of  the  smaller  towns  in  that  part  of  Australia.  Cross- 
ing to  New  Zealand,  he  continued  his  successes  in  the 
principal  towns  of  that  colony,  receiving  flattering 
notices  from  the  newspapers  generally,  and  add- 
ing to  his  fame  as  a  magician.  Thus  the  remainder  of 
the  year  1882  was  passed,  and  with  the  opening  of  the 
year  1883  Kellar  found  himself  at  Poverty  Bay,  on  the 
east  coast  of  New  Zealand.  There  he  had  another  ex- 
perience with  the  rope-tying  doubter,  this  time  an  old 


THE  PHAROS  AT   ALEXANDRIA,    EGYPT. 


175 


176  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

man-o'-war's  man  named  George  Rowley,  a  well-known 
character  at  the  Bay.  Rowley  had  a  special  rope,  and 
spent  ten  minutes  in  doing  the  tying.  In  five  sec- 
onds, after  entering  the  cabinet,  a  hand  was  shown  at 
the  loop-hole,  and  in  one  minute  and  thirty-five  seconds 
Kellar  emerged  with  the  rope  in  his  hand. 

From  Poverty  Bay  we  went  to  Tauranga,  and  then 
to  Ohinerautu  by  coach,  the  route  leading  through 
Kauri  groves  and  over  hills.  Ohinemutu  is  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Rotarua.  The  surrounding  country 
abounds  with  hot  springs,  in  which  the  native  Maoris 
cook  their  food,  and  there  are  many  geysers  which  at 
intervals  throw  columns  of  steam  and  boiling  water  into 
the  air.  The  holes  filled  with  boiling  water  are  so 
numerous  that  the  stranger  must  exercise  great  caution 
to  avoid  falling  into  them.  The  springs  are  constantly 
starting  up  in  unexpected  places,  so  that  no  one  knows 
when  he  is  on  safe  ground.  The  sulphur  springs,  of 
which  there  arc  many,  are  believed  to  be  a  specific  for 
blood  and  skin  disorders.  There  certainly  ought  to  be 
some  redeeming  virtue  in  them,  as  the  odor  they 
emit  is  about  as  foul  as  can  well  be  conceived  of. 

The  Maoris  have,  degenerated  into  a  set  of  lazy, 
drunken  loafers,  the  men  spending  for  drink  the  money 
they  receive  for  the  rent  of  their  land,  while  the 
women  only  do  such  work  as  they  must.  At  Ohine- 
mutu Kellar  visited  the  native  temple,  where  the 
Maoris  held  their  cannibal  feasts  only  a  few  years  be- 
fore, when  their  custom  was  to  devour  their  prisoners 
of  war  after  first  having  boiled  them  in  hot  springs. 
Near  Ohinemutu  is  a  spring  which  emits  a  gas  which 
quickly  produces  unconsciousness,  if  inhaled. 

From  Ohinemutu  we  continued  to  Lake  Tarawera 
where  Kellar  engaged  two  female  guides  and  sev- 
eral oarsmen  to  take  us  across  the  lake  to  one  of  the 
grandest  sights  on  earth,  the  Pink  and  White  terraces. 
For  the  entire  oufit  he  paid  £4.  We  were  rowed 
across  the  lake  to  a  small  stream,  where  we  disem- 


AMONG   THE  KANGAROOS, 


177 


barked  and  crossed  through  scrubby  trees  and  over 
rocks  to  the  White  Terrace.  This  is  a  series  of  steps 
or  platforms,  one  above  the  other,  covered  with  a 
glossy  substance  that  shone  and  sparkled  in  the  sun- 
light like  crystal.  On  the  top  of  the  terrace  is  a  boil- 
ing geyser,  which  sends  its  scalding  water  over  the 
glossy  incline,  adding  constantly  new  layers  to  the 
glittering  crust.  From  this  point  we  were  conducted 
through  hundreds  of  hot  geysers  and  mud  volcanoes,  to 


12 


NEAR   HAY    NEW   SOUTH   WALES. 


178  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

a  place  called  "  The  Devil's  Hole."  The  name  is  fit- 
ting. The  "  Hole  "  is  a  stinking,  screeching,  rumbling, 
boiling  caldron,  which  vomits  forth  volumes  of  steam 
and  black  rnud.  The  heat,  the  foul  smell,  the  steam 
and  the  noise  suggest  Dante's  Inferno.  Many  of  the 
geysers  in  that  vicinity  might  well  be  classed  as  infernal. 
Sounds  like  the  rumbling  of  thunder,  the  screeching 
of  locomotives  and  the  rattle  of  machinery  are  min- 
gled with  the  hissing  of  steam,  and  the  effect  is  start- 
ling and  terrible. 

The  Pink  Terrace  was  found  to  be  even  more  beauti- 
fnl  than  the  White  Terrace.  There  were  about  twenty- 
five  steps,  or  platforms,  of  pink  crystal,  each  about 
six  feet  high,  and  the  entire  district  is  little  better  than 
one  seething,  hissing,  roaring  caldron,  wild,  weird,  and 
terrible  beyond  description.  It  is  a  sight  which  once 
seen  can  never  be  forgotten.  The  path  in  one  instance 
led  close  by  the  mouth  of  a  geyser  which  was  quiet  but 
a  few  minutes  at  a  time.  There  was  only  room  for 
one  person  to  pass  at  a  time,  and  Kellar's  guides 
were  very  merry  over  his  hesitancy  to  make  the  neces- 
sary dash.  At  the  termination  of  the  tour  my  master's 
guides  took  him  to  a  pool  of  warm  water,  and  told  him 
that  he  must  bathe.  As  he  was  entirely  in  care  of  the 
dusky  beauties,  he  obeyed  the  order,  and  after  a  most 
refreshing  dip  returned  to  Wiaroa,  where  the  chief 
ordered  a  grand  "  ha  ka,"  or  national  war  dance,  in 
honor  of  the  visitor — and  the  $  17.50  which  the  Magician 
paid  him.  The  dance  was  similar  to  the  war  dances  of 
most  savage  tribes,  and  consisted  mainly  of  violent 
jumping  around  in  a  circle,  beating  the  breasts  with  the 
hands,  and  shouting  the  word44  Ha  ka,"  with  an  inter- 
val between  the  syllables.  The  women  of  the  tribe 
took  a  significant  part  in  the  dance. 

The  next  stop  was  in  Aukland,  and  thence  via  Sid- 
ney to  Hay  in  New  South  Wales,  where  my  master 
met  his  old  partner,  Mr.  Fay,  who  was  with  him  on 
bis  first  South  American  trip,  and  who  had  given  up  the 


AMONG  THE  KANGAKOOS.  179 

show  business  after  the  shipwreck  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay. 
Mr.  Fay  had  invested  his  South  American  savings 
thriftily,  and  had  established  a  general  store  at  Hay, 
where  he  was  doing  an  excellent  business.  Mr.  Fay 
welcomed  his  old  companion  heartily,  and  among  other 
efforts  to  amuse  him  took  him  on  a  kangaroo  hunt. 
They  drove  about  five  miles  out  of  Hay  through  the 
bush  to  a  large  rolling  plain,  where  they  found  a  herd 
of  several  hundred  kangaroos  grazing.  They  stopped 
when  about  five  hundred  yards  from  the  animals, 
without  having  alarmed  them.  A  pack  of  excel- 
lent kangaroo  dogs  (a  species  of  Scotch  grayhounds), 
was  with  the  party,  and  these  were  at  once  let  loose. 
The  dogs  made  a  bee-line  for  the  herd,  and  each  select- 
ing a  kangaroo,  followed  it  regardless  of  the  others. 

Mr.  Fay's  favorite  dog,  Prince,  chose  an  "  old  man" 
kangaroo,  and  forced  him  around  in  a  circle  to  within 
a  stone's  throw  of  where  Kellar  stood.  Both  were 
going  at  a  very  rapid  gait,  and  the  kangaroo  appeared 
like  a  ball  rolling  over  the  ground.  It  was  a  short  but 
beautiful  race.  Every  moment  Prince  was  shortening 
the  distance  between  them,  until  finally  he  seized  the 
kangaroo  by  the  tail  and  upset  him,  and  before  the 
"  old  man  "  could  recover  himself,  Prince  had  him  by 
the  throat.  One  of  the  other  dogs  chased  an  "  old 
man  "  to  a  water  hole.  The  kangaroo  got  into  the 
middle  of  the  sink  and  calmly  awaited  the  dog's  ap- 
proach, his  intention  being  to  drown  him.  This  he  cer- 
tainly could  have  done  had  not  the  hunters  come  to  the 
dog's  assistance.  Kangaroos  when  chased  by  dogs  in- 
variably run  for  these  natural  water  holes,  of  which 
there  are  many  in  that  part  of  Australia.  As  the  kan- 
garoo has  very  long  hind  legs  he  can  stand  in  the 
deepest  part  of  the  water.  When  the  dog  swims  up 
to  him,  he  will  use  his  fore  paws  to  push  the  dog's  nose 
under  water,  and  will  soon  succeed  in  drowning  him. 
An  "  old  man "  kangaroo  will  show  fight  when 
cornered,  and  they  convert  their  hind  feet  into  very 


180  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

effective  weapons,  occasionally  succeeding  in  disem- 
boweling a  man  or  horse  by  a  vicious  stroke. 

We  had  a  splendid  day's  sport,  and  landed  five  large 
kangaroos  and  one  smaller  one,  the  latter  just  as  we 
were  returning  to  Hay.  We  saw  a  large  number  of 
emus  on  the  plain,  but  could  not  get  near  enough  to 
shoot  any  of  them.  The  kangaroos  in  the  Riverena 
district  are  so  plentiful  that  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year  it  is  a  struggle  for  existence  between  them  and 
the  cattle.  t  They  often  eat  up  all  the  grass.  The 
Australian  government  pays  a  reward  of  one  shil- 
ling per  scalp  for  all  that  are  killed.  The  kangaroo  is 
excellent  as  food,  being  not  unlike  venison.  Kangaroo 
haunch  and  kangaroo  tail  soup  are  common  articles  of 
diet  in  many  Australian  hotels. 

The  country  about  Hay  is  divided  into  large  stations, 
or  ranches,  and  they  are  all  separated  by  wire  fences, 
often  six  or  eight  feet  high.  Kangaroos  leap  over  the 
fences  with  as  much  unconcern  as  if  they  did  not  exist. 
The  ground  is  very  dry  in  the  summer  season  (Decem- 
ber, January  and  February).  There  is  not  a  pebble  or 
stone  of  any  kind  to  be  found  within  many  miles  of 
Hay,  and  sometimes  when  the  day  is  particularly  hot 
the  country  is  covered  with  innumerable  sand  spouts, 
just  like  the  water  spouts  at  sea,  the  dust  rising  hun- 
dreds of  feet  in  the  air,  and  moving  like  hugh  spectres 
along  the  river  banks. 

From  Hay  my  master  proceeded  to  Melbourne,  send- 
ing his  baggage  via  Wagga  Wagga  and  Albany,  while 
lie  took  a  short  cut  by  coach  over  the  Old  Man  Plain 
to  Deneliquin,  where  he  took  a  car  for  the  coast. 
While  crossing  the  plain  the  coach  was  struck  by  a 
terrific  southerly  "buster,"  a  sort  of  cyclone  very 
common  in  that  section.  The  "  buster  "  was  followed 
by  a  down-pour  of  hail,  the  coach  was  upset,  the 
horses  became  unmanageable  and  landed  in  a  gully,  and 
one  passenger  was  seriously  injured.  The  tempera- 
ture changed  suddenly  from  about  95°  to  the  freezing 


AMONG  THE  KANGAROOS. 


181 


SCENE   NEAR   LAUNCESTON,    TASMANIA. 

point,  and  the  half  frozen  passengers  were  forced  to 
walk  about  two  miles  to  the  post  station. 

From  Melbourne  my  master  made. a  visit  to  the  then 
recently  discovered  bio- trees  at  Fernshaw,  about  sev- 
enty miles  distant.  These  trees  are  situated  in  a 
mountain  valley,  on  tin*  Iioa  1  waters  of  the  Yara 
River  (the  Yara's  expanded  mouth  forms  the  magnifi- 
cent port  of  Melbourne),  and  are  the  tallest  trees  in 
the  world.  Specimens  have  been  measured  that  were 


182  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

four  hundred  and  seventy-eight  feet  high,  and  over 
fifty  feet  in  circumference.  The  tallest  trees  in  the 
Yosemite  group  in  California  only  reach  a  height  of 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet;  but  the  girth  of 
some  of  them  is  considerably  greater  than  that  of  any 
at  Fe  rash  aw. 

My  master  next  went  to  Launceston,  Tasmania,  and 
then  through  that  island  to  Hobart  Town.  The  magnifi- 
cent harbor  at  this  place  was  much  admired,  and  the 
wonderful  variety  and  amount  of  fish  to  be  found  in 
the  waters  of  the  harbor  excited  astonishment.  All 
Australian  waters  teem  with  fish,  but  at  Hobart  Town 
the  best  of  the  finny  tribes  seemed  to  have  fixed  their 
aristocratic  residences.  Kellar  was  delighted  with 
Tasmania,  as  indeed  he  had  been  with  many  parts 
of  New  Zealand,  and  portions  of  Australia.  But  Tas- 
mania seemed  a  perfect  garden  spot.  The  fruit  trees 
were  so  heavily  laden  that  the  boughs  were  break- 
ing from  the  weight.  It  was  about  as  near  to  an 
earthly  paradise  as  man  can  reasonably  hope  to  find. 
The  scenery  near  Launceston,  the  waterfalls  and 
rapids,  are  very  beautiful. 

From  Hobart  Town  we  made  a  trip  through  Queens- 
town,  and  at  Gympie  met  the  great  Herr  Daniel  Band- 
mann  and  Miss  Louise  Beaudet,  playing  "  Hamlet "  in 
an  old  tumble-down  place,  with  a  kitchen  scene  for  the 
palace  and  an  ordinary  wooden  chair  for  a  throne.  In 
the  first  week  in  1883  we  halted  at  Maryboro',  and 
here  we  met  The  Charles  Turner  and  Annis  Montague 
Opera  Company.  During  much  of  this  Queensland 
trip  my  master  was  in  competition  with  Mr.  Archibald 
Forbes,  the  famous  English  war  correspondent  and 
lecturer.  Mr.  Forbes  was  drawing  crowded  houses, 
and  other  entertainments  suffered  when  his  was 
around. 

At  Mackay  my  master  first  came  in  contact  with  the 
Coolie  trade  for  the  sugar  plantations  of  Queensland. 
The  Coolies  are  South  Sea  Islanders  who  are  brought 


AMONG  THE  KANGAROOS. 


183 


in  large  cargoes  on  sailing  ships,  and  disposed  of  at 
auction  to  the  highest  bidder  for  three  or  four  years' 
service.  The  poor  fellows,  as  a  rule,  are  kidnapped 
from  their  island  homes,  and  brought  to  Queensland 
on  speculation  by  the  captains  of  the  vessels.  The 
Australian  Government,  for  decency's  sake,  sends  an 
agent  with  the  slavers,  and  he  is  supposed  to  see  that 
no  natives  are  carried  away  by  force,  but  these  agents, 
as  a  rule,  are  a  worthless  lot  of  fellows,  and  not  infre- 
quently share  with  the  captains  in  the  profits  of  the 


A   GYMPIE   MINER. 

trade.  Kellar  had  a  long  talk  with  one  of  these 
Government  agents  (a  fellow  who  was  drunk  much  of 
the  time),  and  from  him  received  many  details  of 
"  Blackbirding."  The  usual  way  of  capturing  Coolies, 
he  said,  was  to  entice  a  number  of  them  on  board  ship 
on  pretense  of  making  them  presents,  or  trading  with 
them.  An  interpreter  would  induce  one  of  the  poor 
ignorant  fellows  to  put  his  mark  to  a  contract  which  he 
could  not  understand,  and  the  sailors  would  then  force 


184 

the  whole  party  down  below  and  keep  them  there  till 
the  ship  was  far  out  at  sea.  If  a  question  was  raised, 
the  mark  on  the  contract  was  declared  to  be  the  signa- 
ture of  a  Chief.  Sometimes  the  natives  resist,  and 
even  succeed  in  overpowering  their  captors,  and  then 
we  hear  terrible  stories  of  the  massacre  of  a  white  crew 
in  the  South  Seas.  Whoever  thinks  these  pictures  are 
overdrawn  should  read  the  Queenslander,  a  weekly 
publication  of  Brisbane,  for  the  months  of  March, 
April,  May  and  June,  1883.  The  money  paid  at  the 
auction  sales  for  the  Coolies  is  nominally  to  reimburse 
the  captains  for  the  cost  of  their  passage.  The  men 
often  bring  as  high  as  £30  or  <£40  each  ($150  or 
$200), 

Our  Magician  was  very  handsomeiy  treated  oy  the 
newspapers  of  Queensland,  .as  well  as  by  the  people. 
The  Maryborough  Chronicle,  of  June  6,  1883,  said  : 
"  Colonists  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  accomplished 
performers,  like  Mr.  Kellar,  for  visiting  such  out-of- 
the-way  places  as  Queensland.  This  gentleman  is  so 
eminently  superior  as  an  exponent  of  a  very  amusing 
and  instructive  art,  that  he  is  thoroughly  deserving  of 
recognition  wherever  he  goes." 

Kellar's  trip  along  the  northeast  coast  of  Queens- 
land was  on  Captain  Traver's  steamer,  the  Nor- 
mandy, and  was  inside  the  famous  Barrier  Reef, 
which  skirts  that  coast  for  many  hundred  miles.  One 
of  the  incidents  of  the  long  trip  was  the  catching  of  a 
monstrous  shark,  the  first  large  one  my  master  had 
ever  taken.  The.  great  number  of  sharks  in  these 
waters  gives  an  unpleasant  sensation  to  visitors,  who 
see  the  big  man-eaters  darting  about;  but  the  natives 
pay  but  little  regard  to  them,  and  swim  around  with 
the  grace  of  mermen  and  the  confidence  of  ducks.  At 
Thursday  Island  Kellar  saw  about  a  dozen  natives 
of  New  Guinea,  who  were  in  charge  of  a  commissioner. 
They  were  finely  built,  yellow,  muscular  and  intelli- 
gent. At  Captain  Traver's  request  the  Magician  per- 


"JOHNNY   NEWSKY."  185 

formed  a  few  commonplace  tricks,  which  surprised 
them  very  much,  and  when  one  of  his  assistants  played 
on  a  cornet  they  were  astonished  beyond  all  bounds. 
Kellar  was  much  disgusted  with  the  natives  of  the 
northeast  part  of  Queensland.  They  are  wild,  savage 
cannibals,  and  but  a  trifle  above  the  monkey  in  the 
scale  of  intelligence. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

"JOHNNY  NEWSKY." 

From  Thursday  Island  the  steamer  continued  across 
the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria  to  Port  Darwin,  the  principal 
town  of  North  Australia.  There  Kellar  gave  one 
performance  while  the  steamer  waited,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  Singapore.  While  at  Singapore  he  heard 
the  boom  of  a  terrible  explosion,  which  occurred  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  August,  1883,  and  resulted  in  the 
disappearance  of  the  Island  of  Krakatoa  in  the  Strait 
of  Sunda,  and  the  appearance  of  two  islands  in  that 
vicinity,  and  which  caused  the  destruction  of  many 
towns  and  the  death  of  nearly  100,000  persons.  The 
Java  Sea  and  the  southern  part  of  the  China  Sea  were 
literally  covered  with  floating  pumice  stone,  and  the 
City  of  Batavia  was  covered  to  the  depth  of  from  four 
to  six  inches  with  ashes.  At  Colombo,  Ceylon,  the 
water  receded  so  that  for  a  time  the  shipping  was  left 
high  and  dry.  The  Government  of  Singapore  thought 
the  sound  was  that  of  men-of-war  having  a  fight  at 
sea,  and  a  dispatch  boat  was  sent  out  for  over  three 
hundred  miles  to  ascertain  what  the  trouble  was. 

Singapore  has  several  streets  occupied  exclusively 
by  Chinese  houses  of  ill-fame.  The  girls  are  brought 
from  Canton  and  other  inland  towns  of  China  via  Hong 
Kong  on  English  steamers,  on  the  pretense  that  they 


•186  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

will  get  situations  in  Singapore  and  the  Straits  settle- 
ments. When  they  reach  Singapore  they  are  taken  to 
these  infamous  dens  and  forced  to  lead  lives  of  shame. 
The  houses  are  licensed  by  the  English  authorities,  and 
should  any  one  of  these  unfortunates  attempt  to  leave, 
they  are  forced  to  go  back  by  the  police.  The  poor 
wretches  have  their  fares  charged  to  them,  and  they 
pay  an  exorbitant  rate  for  board,  etc.,  and  as  they  are 
not  permitted  to  leave  Singapore  until  the  debt  is  paid, 
the  creatures  who  run  the  dens  take  good  care  to  keep 
them  in  debt  until  they  are  too  old  and  ugly  to  satisfy 
the  requirements  of  their  wretched  calling.  Some- 
times we  do  hear  of  the  authorities  of  Hong  Kong  stop- 
ping a  cargo  of  these  women  as  they  pass  through  the 
town,  but  this  only  on  rare  occasions,  and  when  there 
has  been  some  pressure  brought  to  bear  by  European 
visitors  to  the  country.  But  as  long  as  the  Govern- 
ment of  Singapore  receives  large  revenues  from  the 
license  issued  to  these  places,  there  is  little  hope  that 
the  infamous  trade  wiil  be  suppressed.  Is  there  any 
wonder  missionaries  accomplish  so  little  in  their  at- 
tempt to  Christianize  the  natives? 

From  Singapore  we  went  again  to  Hong  Kong, 
where,  for  the  second  time,  we  met  the  Victoria  Loftus 
troupe.  Mr.  Jeff.  D'Angeles  was  the  commander  of 
the  company,  and  with  him  Kellar  enjoyed  a  number 
of  pleasant  jaunts' to  points  of  interest.  At  the  Happy 
Valley  they  visited  the  graves  of  Ling  Look*  and 

*In  our  issue  dated  November  30,  1878,  we  published  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  Ling  Look  in  Hong  Kong,  China,  in  December,  1877. 
Some  months  thereafter  a  performer  styling  himself  the  original  Ling 
Look  appeared  and  performed  in  the  music  halls  in  England.  This 
caused  many  of  the  original  Ling  Look's  friends  to  rejoice  that  he 
was  still  living.  Harry  Kellar,  of  the  Royal  Illusionists,  with  whom 
Ling  Look  left  this  country  and  traveled  to  Australia,  India  and 
China,  where  he  left  the  company  after  the  death  of  his  brother  Yam- 
adeva,  now  writes  to  a  gentleman  in  this  city,  from  Liverpool,  Eng- 
land, November  10th,  regarding  an  interview  with  the  pretended 
Ling  Look.  From  this  letter  we  have  been  permitted  to  extract  the 
following:  "  I  came  all  the  way  from  Scotland  to  see  the  man  calling 


"JOHNNY   NEWSKY."  187 

Yamadeva,  his  two  companions  in  the  original  Royal 
Illusionists  combination.  Beautiful  tombstones  were 
placed  over  each. 

Throughout  the  English  Colonies,  and  also  in  China 
and  Japan,  my  master  was  treated  with  marked  kind- 
ness by  resident  Englishmen.  They  were  of  a  better 
class  than  the  stranger  usually  encounters  in  England. 
Kellar,  when  among  them,  never  felt  as  if  in  a 
strange  country.  He  was  at  home.  While  he  did  not 
always  approve  of  the  English  colonial  policy,  he  has 
the  greatest  respect  for  the  English  officials  and  public 
servants  of  these  colonies.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  high 
minded,  noble,  intelligent  gentlemen,  whom  it  is  a 
pleasure  and  an  honor  to  meet.  Among  those  in  Hong 
Kong  who  were  particularly  kind  and  hospitable  to 
the  Magician  were  Mr.  Harry  Wicking,and  Colonel  Par- 
nell,  a  brother  of  Stewart  Parnell,  a  thoroughly  loyal 
British  subject. 

After  a  very  satisfactory  season  in  Hong  Kong,  of 
which  the  Hong  Kong  Telegraph  of  August  31, 1883, 
said  they  were  "  the  best  performances  ever  given 
within  the  walls  of  the  city  hall,"  Kellar  visited 
Japan,  making  his  first  stop  at  Nagasaki,  a  pretty  place 
in  the  Southern  Island.  He  enjoyed  the  jinriksha 

himself  Ling  Look,  now  performing  in  this  city,  only  to  find  Mm  an 
impostor.  I  had  corresponded  with  this  man  for  some  days,  and  his 
letters  deceived  me  and  led  me  to  believe  that  he  was  actually  my  old 
companion.  He  certainly  knows  all  of  Ling  Look's  past  life,  and 
must  have  been  in  constant  correspondence  with  him  while  we  were 
making  our  tour  through  China  and  Australia.  .  I  introduced  myself 
to  this  man  as  a  friend  of  Kellar,  and  questioned  him  on  our  route, 
etc.,  and  he  gave  me  satisfactory  answers,  until  I  asked  him  about  what 
month  we  arrived  at  Hong  Kong,  when  he  told  me  in  April.  Now, 
we  were  there  in  October.  He  also  stated  that  the  name  of  the  hotel 
in  Hong  Kong  was  the  Victoria,  whereas  it  was  the  Hong  Kong  Hotel 
at  which  we  stayed  (there  being  no  Victoria  Hotel).  I  asked  him  if 
he  would  know  Kellar,  and  he  replied,  '  Do  you  think  I  am  an  im- 
postor ?'  I  said  'Yes.'  I  then  told  him  'I  am  Kellar,' when  he 
immediately  took  his  hat  and  left  the  room. 

"P.  S. — You  may  show  this  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Clipper,  and 
he  has  my  permission  to  publish  it  if  he  so  desires." — New  York  Clip- 
per, Nov.  29,  1879. 


188  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

rides  through  the  beautiful,  clean  but  narrow  streets, 
and  could  not  help  remarking  the  great  contrast  to  the 
filthy  condition  of  Chinese  towns.  The  harbor  of 
Nagasaki  is  one  of  the  loveliest  spots  in  the  world.  It 
is  a  deep  bay,  or  inlet,  about  four  miles  long,  studded 
with  fairy  islands,  and  at  its  apex  is  almost  in  the  shape 
of  a  gigantic  horseshoe,  surrounded  by  high  hills 
clothed  with  trees  and  verdure.  Around  these  hills 
also  are  innumerable  native  burying  places.  It 
happened  that  at  the  period  of  our  visit  there  occurred 
the  annual  Japanese  "  decoration  day."  Instead 
of  ornamenting  the  graves  with  flowers,  as  we  do 
at  home,  the  Japs  cover  the  sepulchres  with  gaily 
painted  lanterns.  These  are  lighted  at  dusk,  and  the 
effect  is  wonderfully  beautiful,  the  whole  country  for 
miles  around  being  thus  illuminated. 

In  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki,  and  connected  with  the 
city  by  a  handsome  bridge,  is  the  island  of  Desima. 
This  is  a  Dutch  settlement,  and  was  occupied  by 
colonists  two  hundred  years  before  any  other  foreigners 
were  permitted  to  settle  in  Japan.  The  island  is  an 
artificial  one,  and  was  built  by  the  colonists,  who,  being 
regarded  by  the  Japanese  as  barbarians,  were  not 

Eermitted  to  reside  on  the  sacred  soil  of  the  country, 
o  the  persevering  and  thrifty  Hollanders  constructed 
Desima,  upon  which  they  were  permitted  to  live 
in  peace,  although  the  natives  regarded  them  with 
the  contemptuous  scorn  a  warlike  race  always 
entertains  for  mere  traders.  No  more  than  three 
Dutchmen  were  allowed  to  visit  Nagasaki  at  the 
same  time.  They  were  compelled  to  be  in  their  own 
quarters  by  sunset,  and  a  military  guard  was  stationed 
at  the  end  of  the  bridge  to  make  sure  that  none  of  them 
disobeyed  their  orders.  Once  each  year  a  ship  from 
Holland  was  permitted  to  enter  the  harbor  to  bring 
the  settlers  her  cargo  for  the  purpose  of  barter.  She 
went  back  filled  with  tea  and  rice  and  silk.  Other 
communication  there  was  none.  This  state  of  things 


"JOHNNY  NEWSKY."  189 

the  patient  and  slow-moving  Dutch  endured  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  content  in  the  knowledge  that  they 
were  the  only  foreigners  in  the  land  of  the  rising  sun, 
and  though  the  port  of  Nagasaki,  as  well  as  Yokohama, 
Kobe,  Hakodadi,  and  the  other  "  treaty  ports,"  have 
for  thirty  years  past  been  "  open,"  and  now  swarm 
with  Americans,  English,  Germans,  French,  andj  a 
mixed  rabble  from  all  the  corners  of  the  earth,  the 
steady-going  Dutch  continue  to  jog  along  in  their  old 
fashioned  manner  at  Desima.  The  island  is  not  as 
large  as  the  British  settlement  of  Shameen  at  Canton, 
which  is  notoriously  too  small  to  play  cricket  on. 
Desima  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and  nearly 
two  in  breadth.  Crossing  the  bridge  from  Nagasaki 
and  its  busy  hives  of  people,  one  finds  himself  suddenly 
in  an  Amsterdam  in  little.  The  same  spick  and  span 
cleanliness  ;  the  white  houses  with  green  blinds  and 
tiles  ;  the  prim  gardens  with  shrubs  cut  into  the  shape 
of  impossible  birds  and  beasts ;  the  same  stolid,  slow, 
good  natured  huis-frau  in  white  cap  and  short,  coarse 
white  dress,  are  all  to  be  seen  on  the  little 
island  twenty  thousand  miles  from  the  land  of  dikes, 
windmills  and  schnapps. 

In  Nagasaki  we  attended  the  peculiar  Japanese 
"  function  "  known  as  a  "  Johnny  Newsky."  This  is 
a  sort  of  native  dance,  supported  altogether  by  women. 
The  dance  is  somewhat  after  the  style  of  the  famous 
"bee"  dance  of  the  Egyptian  Almelis,  only  that  the 
pretty  little  rosy  cheeked  Jap  "Moosies"  are  a  vast 
deal  more  alluring  than  their  prototypes  in  the  land  of 
Isis  and  Osiris.  A  "  Johnny  Newsky  "  can  be  readily 
arranged  for  at  a  fixed  price  per  performer.  It  is  usual 
that  these  shall  be  identical  in  number  with  the  spec- 
tators, and  the  audience  seldom  consists  of  more  than 
ten  or  a  dozen.  Tea  and  saki  are  served  during  the 
entertainment  by  the  "  Kotsikis,"  or  barmaids,  and 
generally  speaking  a  well-conducted  "Johnny  Newsky" 
is  attended  with  a  great  deal  of  fun. 


190  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  ELEPHANT  HUNT. 

From  Nagasaki  we  went  through  the  famous  inland 
sea  of  Japan,  passing  through  the  wonderful  Simoni- 
saki  Straits,  where  the  swift  current  rushes  between 
shores  that  are  but  a  few  rods  apart.  The  sight  is  a 
grand  and  beautiful  one,  and  the  many  islands  with 
which  the  sea  is  studded  add  to  the  charm  of  the  place. 
At  night,  when  the  steamer  was  near  the  Straits,  the 
surface  of  the  sea  was  alive  with  fishermen's  junks. 
Each  junk  carried  a  large  torch  at  the  bow,  and  the 
effect  was  that  of  a  monster  torchlight  procession  ex- 
tending as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  The  steamer 
had  difficulty  in  working  its  way  among  the  swarm  of 
junks  without  running  some  of  them  down. 

At  Hiogo,  or  Kobe,  my  master  played  in  the  Gym- 
nasium to  crowded  houses.  He  then  went  to  Yoko- 
hama, where  his  triumphs  were  repeated  in  the 
Gaiety  Theatre.  At  Yokohama  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Mr.  Fred  Deacon,  proprietor  of  a  very  large 
curio  establishment.  Mr.  Deacon  took  the  Magician 
about  the  city  in  a  pony  carriage,  showing  him  all 
the  important  and  interesting  places  in  the  vicinity. 
The  peculiarities  of  Japanese  lite,  which  he  then  saw 
to  excellent  advantage,  interested  him  greatly.  He 
was  very  much  pleased  with  the- Japanese  people. 
Their  thrift,  their  honesty  and  their  cleanliness,  as 
well  as  their  ingenuity  and  industry,  delighted  him. 
The  influence  of  Western  civilization  is  being  felt  in 
Japan,  but  many  of  the  old  customs  remain.  The 
whole  of  a  Japanese  house  is  one  .room.  If  apartments 
are  wanted,  screens  of  paper  are  slid  into  grooves  be- 


THE  ELEPHANT  HUNT.  191 

tween  its  mats  on  the  floor  and  a  room  is  partitioned 
off  in  a  few  minutes.  Of  course  there  is  no  privacy  ill 
such  houses,  but  Japanese  do  not  seem  to  care  for  pri- 
vacy. Going  to  bed  is  ridiculously  simple.  Every- 
body takes  a  hot  bath,  and  puts  on  his  dry  clothes 
again,  and  over  the  clothes  draws  a  long  wadded  wrap- 
per with  enormous  sleeves.  A  thick  quilt  is  put  on 
the  floor,  and  a  .pillow  of  wood  shaped  like  a  cradle 
rocker,  and  having  a  wad  of  paper  to  rest  the  neck  on, 
is  placed  at  the  head.  When  the  Jap  lies  down,  an- 
other thick  quilt  is  drawn  over  him.  A  tray  of  food, 
smoking  utensils  and  a  lighted  lantern  are  always  with- 
in reach  of  the  sleeper.  When  the  Jap  gets  up  in  the 
morning  he  shakes  himself  out,  rolls  quilt,  bedrobe  and 
pillow  into  a  package,  shuts  it  up  in  a  cupboard,  dusts 
his  matting,  and  is  ready  for  the  day.  There  are  no 
stoves,  no  chairs,  no  stairs  in  a  Japanese  house.  Cook- 
ing is  done  in  little  portable  furnaces,  and  everybody 
sits  on  the  floor.  Everything  is  curious  to  the  stranger. 
The  carpenter  pulls  his  plane  toward  him  when  at 
work.  He  saws  on  the  up  stroke,  holding  the  wood 
with  his  foot,  and  does  almost  everything  in  a  way 
which  is  just  the  opposite  of  European  or  American 
custom.  The  Japanese  are  as  honest  as  the  sun  where 
the  missionaries  have  not  been.  It  is  as  natural  for  a 
Jap  to  be  honest  as  for  a  Chinaman  to  be  dishonest. 

While  at  Yokohama,  Kellar  visited  the  great 
Ditibutz  of  Japan,  which  is  a  monstrous  idol  of  such 
size  that  four  men  can  stand  on  his  thumb.  The  grand 
and  "  perfect  "  mountain  Fujiyama,  with  its  crown 
of  snow,-  can  be  seen  from  all  parts  of  the  island,  and 
it  gives  impressiveness  to  a  landscape  of  exceptional 
beauty.  The  Magician  returned  to  Nagasaki  on  the 
steamer  Kivah,  the  vessel  on  which  Yamadeva  died  sev- 
eral years  before.  The  voyage  was  a  rough  one,  and  a 
typhoon  was  encountered  in  the  Inland  Sea.  The  storm 
was  of  such  violence  that  many  junks  were  wrecked 
and  many  lives  were  lost. 


i92  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

On  board  of  one  of  the  Mitisbishu  Company's  steam- 
ers, Kellar  set  out  in  September,  1883,  for  Vladi- 
vostock,  Siber.a.  He  was  warmly  welcomed  at  the 
only  Russian  naval  station  on  the  Pacific,  and  what  he 
saw  there  gave  him  a  desire  to  make  a  tour  of  Russia 
proper.  He  gave  several  performances  at  Vladivo- 
stock  with  great  success,  and  found  the  inhabitants 
remarkably  intelligent  and  hospitable.  They  were 
anxious  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  please  their  visitors. 

My  master's  next  stop  was  at  Shanghai,  where  he 
did  a  very  poor  business,  owing  to  the  fact  that  two 
other  magicians  had  been  there  just  before  him,  both 
swindling  shows.  He  did  not  tarry  long,  but  went  to 
Hong  Kong,  where  he  met  Colonel  Gilder,  of  the  New 
York  Herald,  a  very  pleasant  gentleman,  who,  in  the 
interest  of  his  paper,  was  watching  the  progress  of  the 
Franco-Chinese  War.  Excitement  was  running  very 
high  among  the  Chinese,  and  about  this  time  they  at- 
tacked and  burned  the  greater  portion  of  the  European 
town  in  Canton.  The  boastful  spirit  of  the  Chinese 
was  well  shown  in  one  of  their  illustrated  papers, 
which  published  a  cartoon  representing  about  one  hun- 
dred Europeans  running  in  terror  from  a  single  fierce 
Chinaman,  who  flourished  a  sword  in  each  hand. 

Inflammatory  notices  were  distributed  through  the 
country  with  a  vie\v  to  stirring  up  the  Chinese  against 
the  foreigners.  One  of  them  was  to  the  following  ef- 
fect: 

"  These  foreign  devils  are  far  inferior  to  the  Chinese 
race  in  every  respect.  Of  course  some  people  will  say 
4  How  is  it,  if  they  are  inferior,  that  they  can  do  all 
these  wonderful  things,  make  steamboats,  telegraphs 
and  implements  of  war  ?  '  We  answer  this  by  saying 
that  they  kidnap  our  children,  eat  their  brains,  and  use 
their  flesh  and  fat  in  their  devilish  incantations;"  and 
much  more  in  the  same  vein. 

The  Chinese  men-of-war  in  the  harbor  had  native 
officers  whose  insolent  swagger  was  ridiculous.  They 


194  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

would  parade  the  streets,  with  long  silk  robes  trailing 
the  ground,  play  billiards,  drink  and  carry  on  like 
rowdies  of  any  other  nation.  It  was  their  delight  io 
be  personally  offensive  to  Europeans,  crowding  them 
out  of  their  way  whenever  opportunity  offered,  and 
using  insulting  language  at  all  times.  Kellar  visited 
a  native  merchant  named  Sun  Shing,  with  whom 
he  was  acquainted,  and  who  was  noted  for  his  intelli- 
gence and  ability.  A  conversation  to  this  effect  en- 
sued : 

Kellar — "Well,  Sun,  what  will  you  do  when  the 
Frenchmen  come  down  here  with  their  men-of-war  and 
clean  you  fellows  all  out  ?  " 

Sun—"  Hah  !     You  sabe  Flenchman  ?  " 

Kellar—"  Yes." 

Sun — "  Flenchman,  he  belongee  alle  samee  one  piecie 
lat  (rat)." 

Kellar-"  Yes." 

Sun — "  You  sabe  Chinaman  ?  " 

Kellar — "  Yes,  I  sabe  Chinaman.  " 

Sun — "Chinaman  he  belongee  alle  samee  one  piecie 
cat.  By  and  by  cat  jumpee  on  lat  (rat),  chop,  chop 
(quick).  No  more  lat  (rat)." 

The  Chinaman's  prophecy  came  very  near  being 
true. 

Of  course  there  was  not  much  encouragement  for  a 
showman  to  remain  in  China  under  existing  circum- 
stances, so  Kellar  soon  left  Hong  Kong  for  Manila. 
He  arrived  there  about  the  middle  of  October,  and 
played  in  the  Teatro  do  Tondo  with  enormous 
success.  A  terrific  hurricane  came  on  while  he  was  at 
Manila,  but  noticing  the  threatening  clouds,  he  ordered 
his  assistants  to  go  with  him  to  the  theater  and  pack 
their  trunks,  which  were  solid  and  waterproof.  They 
had  scarcely  finished  their  work  when  the  roof  of  the 
theater  was  lifted  off  and  everything  that  was  exposed 
was  drenched.  The  Magician's  apparatus  escaped  with- 
out damage,  through  his  forethought  and  promptness. 


THE   ELEPHANT   HUNT.  195 

The  famous  cigar  factory  of  Manila,  covering  about 
six  acres,  and  giving  employment  to  about  ten  thousand 
women,  was  one  of  the  attractive  features  of  the  place. 
The  city  is  the  capital  of  the  Philippine  Islands  and 
the  center  of  Spanish  commerce  in  the  East. 

Kellar  next  took  a  trip  among  the  islands  of  the 
Philippine  group  to  Ilo  Ho,  and  thence  he  proceeded 
to  Hong  Kong  once  more,  where  he  took  a  French 
steamer  to  Saigon,  in  Cochin  China.  Sargon  is  a  very 
beautiful,  clean  little  town,  and  the  theater  is  like  a 
fairy  palace  in  a  flower  garden.  It  is  supported  by  the 
government,  and  artists  are  allowed  use  of  it  free  of 
charge.  There  was  great  excitement  because  of  the 
Tonquin  war.  French  troops  were  arriving  every  day, 
and  the  whole  town  was  in  a  state  of  war  preparation. 
The  French  authorities  vied  with  each  other  to  make 
my  master's  stay  a  pleasant  one,  and  the  letters  he 
brought  to  the  mayor  from  friends  in  the  Mauritius 
stimulated  that  official  to  inajiy  kind  offices.  Steamers 
land  about  two  miles  from  Saigon,  and  the  route  from 
the  landing  to  the  town  is  through  a  jungle,  which  is 
said  to  be  infested  with  tigers.  But  my  master  did  not 
see  any  tigers,  and  he  was  soon  afloat  bound  for  Batavia 
the  third  time.  On  his  way  he  saw  the  sea  still  covered 
with  pumice  stone,  from  the  Krakatoa  eruption,  al- 
though it  was  near  the  end  of  December,  almost 
four  months  after  the  great  upheaval.  Business  in 
Batavia  was  good,  and  so  it  was  in  Penang,  to  which 
place  Mr.  Kellar  went  via  Singapore.  The  Island  of 
Penang  formerly  belonged  to  the  King  of  Qneda  in 
Malacca,  but  was  given  by  him  in  1785  as  a  marriage 
portion  with  his  daughter,  who  married  Captain  Light, 
the.  master  of  a  British  ship  trading  in  the  Straits. 
The  English  East  India  Company  bought  the  island 
from  Light  in  1786,  and  afterward  in  consideration  of  an 
annual  income  paid  to  the  king,  the  sovereignty  of  the 
island  was  ceded  to  them. 
A  visit  was  next  made  to  the  mines  of  Perak,  where 


196  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

my  master  gave  two  performances  on  a  good  certainty, 
and  then  took  the  steamer  Assam  for  Ceylon.  He  land- 
ed at  Colombo  in  March,  1884,  and  stayed  there  two 
weeks  waiting  for  a  steamer  by  which  he  could  take 
passage  for  England.  He  gave  one  performance  in  the 
Club  Theatre,  and  called  on  Arabi  Pasha,  the  exile 
from  Egypt,  who  was  teaching  a  school.  Arabi  wore 
a  fez  after  the  Turkish  fashion.  He  was  quiet  and  un- 
assuming, and  received  the  Magician  very  kindly. 

While  Kellar  was  in  Ceylon,  a  former  Governor 
visited  the  island,  and  an  elephant  hunt  was  gotten  up 
in  his  honor.  My  master  was  invited  and  Baron 
Stracey  and  a  number  of  other  English  gentlemen  also 
took  part  in  the  hunt.  The  party  went  by  railroad 
over  the  mountains  to  near  Kandy.  They  then  took 
dhak-gharrys  to  the  jungle,  and  were  ready  for  the 
sport.  Elephant  hunting  as  there  carried  on  is  rather 
elephant  catching.  The  big  beasts  are  neither  shot  nor 
injured  in  any  other  way,  but  are  driven  into  enclosures 
or  stockades,  and  taken  something  like  a  big  fish  in  a 
big  net.  A  great  army  of  beaters  scour  the  country 
for  miles  around  and  drive  a  herd  of  elephants  toward 
a  corral.  Great  wings,  formed  of  trees,  posts  and 
brushwood  interlaced,  are  first  encountered  by  the 
huge  animals,  and  these  direct  their  course  to  a  smaller 
and  stronger  enclosure,  which  leads  by  a  narrow  en- 
trance to  a  still  smaller  enclosure,  and  this  in  turn 
opens  into  the  corral  proper,  which  is  made  very  strong 
by  posts  chained  together.  As  soon  as  the  herd  has 
been  frightened  into  the  corral,  the  entrance  is  closed, 
and  the  elephants  are  prisoners.  Tame  female  elephants 
are  then  put  in  among  the  wild  ones,  and  while  the 
gallant  males  are  busy  making  love  to  the  new  comers, 
skillful  attendants  slip  unnoticed  into  the  corral  and 
chain  the  legs  of  the  tuskers.  The  rest  is  simple. 
It  does  not  take  the  elephants  long  to  comprehend 
the  situation,  and  before  many  weeks  have  passed 
the  wildest  of  them  are  as  tractable  as  so  many  cattle. 


IN  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA.  197 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

IN   NEW  YOKK  AND   PHILADELPHIA. 

Kellar's  homeward  trip  was  to  Aden  and  through 
the  Red  Sea  and  Suez  Canal.  When  on  the 
canal  he  found  the  weather  so  cold  that  even  over- 
coats failed  to  produce  a  satisfactory  degree  of  warmth. 
A  stiff  breeze  from  the  north  did  the  mischief.  At 
Malta  he  played  in  the  Opera  House,  and  at  Gibraltar 
he  appeared  for  one  night  in  the  Garrison  Theatre, 
while  the  steamer  waited.  His  audience  was  large  and 
enthusiastic.  Continuing  his  journey  by  the  steamer 
Ravena  of  the  P.  &  O.  line,  he  soon  reached  England, 
and  at  once  proceeded  to  fit  up  for  an  American  tour. 
He  added  some  important  features  to  his  apparatus, 
and  renewed  such  of  his  outfit  as  had  suffered  from 
the  hard  usage  of  an  around-the-world  trip.  When  he 
finally  landed  in  New  York  he  was  possessed  of  an  ex- 
ceptionally fine  magical  collection.  Before  opening  his 
regular  season  in  New  York,  he  gave  some  private  ex- 
hibitions to  members  of  the  press.  The  New  York 
Dramatic  News  of  August  12,  1884,  contained  the  fol- 
lowing concerning  one  of  these  exhibitions,  which  is 
here  reproduced  as  giving  a  very  fair  notion  of  the 
Magician's  entertainment,  as  witnessed  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  people  during  the  next  two  years  : 

The  Professor  ascended  the  stage,  and  brought  out  a 
beautifully  finished  automaton  dressed  a  la  Turk,  which  he 
invited  us  to  inspect.  After  that  solemn  duty  had  been 
performed,  the  Turk  was  placed  upon  a  glass  stand,  and  the 
Professor  came  to  us  with  the  statements,  that  the  delicate 
mechanism  of  the  figure  could  be  controlled  by  force  of 
will.  We  thought  of  the  number  4,384,  and  whispered 


198  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

the  number  in  the  ear  of  the  performer,  who  was  standing 
with  his  back  to  the  stage,  when  the  Turk  instantly  set  the 
number  up  in  figures  before  our  astonished  eyes.  We 
then  wrote  a  question,  which  was  instantly  answered  in  the 
same  manner.  Then  the  performer  handed  us  a  common 
slate  and  a  number  of  Webster's  dictionaries.  We  ex- 
amined the  slate,  and  after  seeing  it  carefully  cleaned, 
closed  it  and  selected  one  of  the  dictionaries.  Then  we 
inserted  a  card  between  the  leaves  at  random,  and  handed 
the  book  to  the  Professor,  the  slate  which  we  had  kept 
closed  remaining  on  our  lap  all  this  time.  The  Professor 
then  asked  which  word  on  either  side  of  the  pages  we 
wished  written  on  the  slate.  We  selected  the  first  on  the 
left  hand  page.  The  tiny  bit  of  pencil,  which  had  been 
placed  inside  the  slate,  began  to  scratch  away,  and  on 
opening  the  slate  we  found  not  only  the  word  but  the  de- 
finition in  full,  written  in  a  plain,  bold  hand.  This  ex- 
periment was  varied  with  several  popular  works  of  fiction, 
until  we  became  convinced  that  anything  the  Professor  chose 
could  be  written  on  a  blank  slate  when  closed  and  held  by 
any  one.  The  Professor  then  requested  us  to  write  a  question 
on  one  of  our  own  cards,  which  we  enclosed  in  an  envelope 
and  gave  to  him.  This  being  done,  he  placed  it  to  his 
forehead  for  an  instant,  when  the  wonderful  Turk  began  a 
series  of  gesticulations,  which  ended  in  his  producing  our 
question  plainly  written  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  to  which  was 
attached  a  v.ry  reasonable  answer.  We  were  then  re- 
quested to  hand  the  Professor  any  coin  or  bank  note.  A 
national  promise  to  pay  was  produced,  when  the  Professor 
stepped  upon  a  plate  of  glass  with  his  face  towards  us,  and 
back  towards  the  automaton,  when  the  wonderful  piece  of 
machinery  instantly  produced  the  number  of  the  note, 
without  the  least  word  or  sign  from  any  one.  A  cabinet 
was  then  brought  on  the  stage  and  taken  to  pieces.  We 
examined  every  part,  and  saw  it  put  together  again,  which 
was  the  work  of  a  moment.  The  Professor  called  our 
attention  to  the  cabinets  used  by  the  Davenports  and  other 
so-called  mediums,  and  then  directed  us  to  close  the  door, 
which  was  done,  when  instantly  a  frightful  uproar  began 
on  the  inside.  The  door  was  opened  and  the  cabinet  found 
to  be  empty.  We  looked  under,  over  and  behind  the 


IN  NEW  YORK  AND   PHILADELPHIA.  199 

cabinet,  then  closed  the  door  once  more,  when  spirit  hands, 
faces  and  death  heads  appeared  above,  under  and  at  a 
small  window  in  the  cabinet.  We  opened  the  door  with 
the  same  result  as  before.  The  door  was  closed  for  a  third 
time,  and  we  were  requested  to  think  of  some  one  we 
wished  to  see  or  hear.  We  thought  of  Arbuckle  when 
instantly  a  cornet  appeared  at  the  window,  and  the  well 
known  solo,  "Down  upon  the  S'wanee  River,"  was  exe- 
cuted in  a  style  that  would  have  done  credit  to  the  great 
virtuoso.  We  sat  spell-bound,  until  the  Professor  opened 
the  door  and  disclosed  the  empty  interior  for  the  third 
time.  The  door  was  again  closed,  when  out  through  the 
closed  side  apparently  came  a  female  face  and  form,  fol- 
lowed by  a  skeleton  six  feet  high.  The  skeleton  walked 
about  the  stage,  danced,  threw  its  arms  about,  and  finally 
raised  one  fleshless  hand  to  its  grinning  skull,  and  per- 
formed the  decapitation  act  by  taking  the  skull  from  the 
body  and  sending  it  spinning  over  our  heads,  the  jaws 
rattling  like  a  pair  of  castanets  all  the  time.  The  skull 
flew  around  the  hall,  then  returned  to  its  former  place  and 
the  whole  affair  vanished — it  was  impossible  to  tell  how  or 
where.  The  Professor  then  came  forward  and  said: 
"  Sometimes  I  am  seized  by  an  unknown  force,  and  trans- 
ported over  the  heads  of  the  audience.  Now,  as  I  cannot 
control  this  force,  I  wish  you  to  remain  perfectly  quiet,  as 
any  demonstration  might  prove  fatal  to  me."  We  noticed 
a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eye,  but  said  nothing,  for  slowly 
but  surely  the  Professor  began  to  rise  until  his  head  was 
above  the  top  of  the  gallery,  when  he  advanced  over  our 
heads,  came  to  a  full  stop  and  hung,  like  Mahomet's  coffin, 
suspended  in  mid-air.  Slowly  he  passed  around  the  room, 
and  finally  returned  to  the  stage  without  accident.  He 
then  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  were  no  wires, 
or  mechanical  appliances  of  any  kind  used,  and  we  saw 
from  the  course  of  his  flight  and  our  close  proximity  to 
him,  that  any  mechanical  support  was  impossible.  The 
Professor  proposed  to  give  several  more  experiments,  but 
we  were  satisfied. 

Kellar    opened    at     the    Park     Theatre    in    New 
York,  on  the  22nd  of  September,  1884,  to  very  good 


200  A 

audiences.  After  two  weeks  he  went  to  the  Athenaeum 
Hall  in  Brooklyn,  for  a  fortnight,  and,  returning  to 
New  York,  put  in  six  weeks  at  the  Grand  Opera 
House  Hall.  He  was  very  handsomely  treated  by  the 
New  York  newspapers.  Following  are  extracts  from 
a  few  of  them  : 

"The  best  exhibition  of  magical  skill  we  have  ever 
seen." — Tuvf,  Field  and  Farm. 

"  His  tricks  brought  out  rounds  of  applause." — Tribune. 

u  The  entertainment  was  a  success  from  beginning  to 
end." — Clipper. 

"One  of  the  most  astonishing  performances  ever  given 
in  New  York." — Journal. 

"  Mr.  Kellar's  Kellarisms  out-Heller  the  late  Mr.  Heller's 
Hellerisms." — Brooklyn  Times. 

"  So  startling  were  the  tricks  performed,  that  a  sense  of 
fear  and  awe  possessed  many  who  were  present." — News. 

"The  wonders  were  warmly  applauded  by  a  large 
audience." — Post. 

"  Improvement  on  the  tricks  of  the  Davenport  Brothers." 
— Times. 

"The  entertainment  called  for  much  applause." — Tele- 
gram. 

t;  A  very  interesting  entertainment." — Herald. 

On  the  evening  of  December  15,  1884,  we  began  a 
season  at  the  Egyptian  Hall  in  Philadelphia,  and  made 
the  unprecedented  run  of  323  consecutive  perform- 
ances there.  The  season  was  strikingly  successful 
from  a  pecuniary,  as  well  as  from  an  artistic  point  of 
view.  Nothing  like  it  had  ever  before  been  seen  in 
the  Quaker  City.  During  many  successive  weeks  the 
full  capacity  of  the  hall  was  taxed  to  accommodate 
the  throngs  that  crowded  to  the  entertainment,  and 
the  patronage  was  among  the  best  classes  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

My  master's  pronounced  antagonism  to  the  claims 
of  spiritual  mediums,  gave  him  peculiar  prominence  at 
this  juncture,  because  of  an  investigation  which  was 


IN   NEW    YORK   AND   PHILADELPHIA.  201 

being  conducted  by  a  commission  of  prominent 
scientific  men.  Mr  Adam  Seyhert  was  a  Philadelphia!! 
of  wealth  and  leisure.  At  middle  age  he  conceived 
the  idea  that  he  had  a  mission  in  regard  to  spiritualism, 
and  he  associated  much  with  mediums.  Many  philan- 
thropic notions  possessed  him.  At  one  time  he  tried 
to  raise  a  sentiment  in  the  community  that  soda  and 
other  mineral  waters  were  preferable  to  alcoholic 
drinks.  He  succeeded  in  raising  the  standard  of 
bakers'  bread,  and  he  gave  the  city  the  clock  and  bell 
that  are  now  (1886)  in  the  steeple  of  Independence 
Hall.  Mr  Seybert  was  one  of  the  dupes  of  the  Katie 
King  fraud,  and  he  was  victimized  in  various  ways  by 
the  mediums.  When  he  died  he  directed  that 
his  body  be  cremated,  and  he  left  $60,000  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  chair  of  "  Moral  and  Intellectual 
Philosophy"  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  A 
condition  of  the  bequest  was  "  that  the  incumbent  of 
the  chair  should,  either  individually  or  in  conjunction 
with  a  Commission  of  the  University  Faculty,  make  a 
thorough  and  impartial  investigation  of  all  systems  of 
morals,  religion  and  philosophy,  which  assume  to 
represent  the  truth,  and  particularly  of  modern 
spiritualism."  The  condition  was  accepted,  and  in 
1883  a  commission  composed  of  the  following  gentle- 
men began  an  investigation  :  Dr.  William  Platt  Pepper, 
Rev.  George  S.  Fullerton,  Dr.  Horace  Howard  Furness, 
Prof.  Joseph  Laidy,  Prof.  R.  E.  Thomson,  Dr.  August 
Koenig  and  Mr.  Coleman  Sellers.  The  Commission 
has  paid  particular  attention  to  clairvoyance,  mesmer- 
ism, animal  magnetism,  second  sight,  prophecy,  and 
materialization,  but  never  let  the  public  hear  a  word 
about  their  opinions  as  the  investigation  proceeded. 
In  the  matter  of  spiritualism,  before  going  far  the 
committee  made  one  very  important  distinction.  Tli^y 
divided  the  question  of  the  validity  of  any  manifesta- 
tion into  two  questions: 

First — Is  the  phenomenon  actual  or  apparent ;  that 


202  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

V 

is,  does  one  see,  or  feel,  or  hear  it,  or  does  he  only 
think  he  sees,  or  feels,  or  hears  it ;  does  it  exist  only 
in  his  imagination  ? 

Second — If  the  phenomenon  is  real,  what  produces 
it?  Natural  or  supernatural  agencies?  Human 
beings  or  spirits? 

Invitations  were  sent  out  to  all  of  the  great 
mediums  of  the  country,  and  to  all  who  profess  to 
expose  mediums,  to  come  before  the  commission.  Dr. 
Henry  Slade,  the  slate  writer,  gave  six  sittings,  for 
which  he  received  $300.  Maud  Lord  came  on  from 
New  York,  and  the  bright  lights  among  the  mediums 
responded  from  every  point  of  the  compass.  And  the 
exposers  came  too.  Foremost  among  them  was 
Kellar,  and  it  was  pretty  generally  understood  by 
those  interested  in  the  matter,  that  what  he  produced 
by  admitted  natural  means  before  the  commission, 
surprised  the  members  more  than  had  the  performances 
of  any  person  who  claimed  to  operate  by  spirit  power. 
Kellar  would  not  say  what  tests  he  had  given,  and 
the  commission  will  not  make  any  public  announce- 
ment until  its  final  report  is  prepared,  but  it  is 
probable  that  the  following  indicates  one  line  of 
experiments  which  were  shown  on  that  occasion : 

Philadelphia  Record,  Feb.  18,  1885  : 

On  Monday  afternoon  Professor  Kellar  gave  a  private 
seance  at  Egyptian  Hall,  to  several  newspaper  representa- 
tives. Mr.  Kellar's  object  was  to  demonstrate  that  he  could 
produce  by  natural  agencies  what  Dr.  Slade  professes  to 
accomplish  by  spiritualism.  Mr.  Kellar,  after  assigning  the 
gentlemen  present  to  places  around  the  table,  and  within 
two  feet  of  himself,  produced  nine  slates,  and,  after  wash- 
ing their  surfaces,  selected  two  ;  then  placing  a  piece  of 
pencil  between  them  he  held  them  aloft  in  full  sight  of 
every  one  present.  Immediately  a  scratching  sound  was 
heard,  and,  on  opening  the  slates,  the  following  message  was 
found  written  in  plain  characters  :' 

"  It  would  perhaps  be  easier  to  believe  that  these  mani- 


IN  NEW  YORK  AND   PHILADELPHIA.  203 

festations  are  the  result  of  spiritual  power,  than  that  they 
are  merely  a  conjurer's  trick.  They  can,  however,  all  be 
traced  to  natural  causes." 

Two  more  slates  were  selected,  and  held  beneath  the 
table  by  the  magician's  right  hand,  the  thumb  of  which  was 
all  the  time  in  sight  of  all  the  company.  After  considerable 
scratching,  this  message  appeared  : 

"  Just  returned  from  the  Soudan.  Gordon  is  alive  and 
will  return  safely  to  England.  BEN  ALLAH." 

The  third  slate  similarly  held,  stated  : 

"  With  such  undoubted  evidence  of  a  spirit  world,  why 
will  you  persist  in  doubting  it  ?" 

Below  the  above  message  appeared  Prof.  Kellar's  signa- 
ture in  Chinese  characters. 

As  a  final  test  of  his  power,  the  following  question  was 
written  on  a  slate  :  "  What  is  the  height  of  the  Washing- 
ton Monument  ?  "  This  the  Professor  was  not  allowed  to 
see.  He,  however,  placed  the  slate  beneath  the  table  as 
before.  In  a  short  time  the  scratching  sound  was  heard, 
and,  on  placing  the  slate  on  the  table,  the  following  answer 
was  given  on  the  obverse  side:  "We  have  never  visited 
Washington  Monument,  therefore  can  not  give  its  height." 

Professor  Kellar  then  requested  the  gentlemen  to  join 
hands,  after  which  spirit  rappings  were  produced,  and  the 
Professor,  in  an  explanatory  way,  said  :  "  It  is  just  such 
exhibitions  as  I  have  given  you  that  lead  credulous  people 
to  believe  in  spiritualism." 

The  one  hundreth  performance  at  Egyptian  Hall 
was  made  memorable  to  my  master  by  the  receipt  of  a 
$550  watch  and  a  $125  chain.  Kellar  at  each  per- 
formance did  his  famous  trick  with  finger  rings  bor- 
rowed from  persons  in  the  audience.  The  last  of  the 
rings  is  regularly  found  tied  by  a  ribbon  about  the 
neck  of  a  Guinea  pig,  which  is  taken  from  a  bottle 
from  which  a  variety  of  liquors  has  just  been  poured. 
When  Kellar  broke  the  bottle  on  the  night  in  ques- 
.tion4  to  pull  out  the  Guinea  pig,  he  found  the  watch 
and  chain  fastened  to  the  animal,  and  a  card  inscribed: 
44  Call  for  Col.  Mann."  As  soon  as  the  surprised  Magi- 


204  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

ciiin  could  collect  his  senses,  he  made  the  call,  and 
Col.  William  B.  Mann  presented  him  with  the  watch 
in  a  neat  speech,  to  which  my  IE  aster  could  scarcely 
find  words  to  reply.  The  house  was  crowded  and  the 
audience  applauded  long  and  lustily. 

A  pleasant  episode  of  this  engagement  was  a  visit 
from  the  venerable  "  Fakir  of  Ava,"  with  whom 
Kellar  learned  the  art  and  mystery  of  his  calling.  The 
Fakir  was  delighted  with  the  progress  his  pupil  had 
made,  and  was  apparently  as  much  mystified  by  some 
of  the  experiments  as  any  one  in  the  audience.  In  a 
conversation  with  a  friend,  the  Fakir  was  afterward 
asked : 

"  What  constitutes  a  great  magician  ?  " 

<l  Quickness  of  mind,  gumption,  mother  wit,  the 
power  to  take  an  audience  with  you  from  the  start," 
replied  the  Fakir.  "  I  will  give  you  an  example  from 
my  own  career,  of  what  I  mean:  I  was  showii.g  in 
Nashville,  Tennessee.  At  my  first  seance,  Mrs.  Polk, 
the  widow  of  the  ex-President,  was  present.  I  asked 
her  to  let  me  take  her  bonnet,  which  she  did  after 
some  hesitation  and  urging  on  the  part  of  some  of  her 
husband's  brothers,  who  were  present  also.  I  took  the 
bonnet,  and  before  her  very  eyes,  and  before  going 
back  to  the  stage,  tore  it  in  half,  apparently,  by  acci- 
dent. I  appeared  very  much  frightened  at  what  I  had 
done,  but  said  I  would  do  what  I  could  to  repair  the 
mischief.  I  pointed  my  conjurer's  cannon  at  the  ceil- 
ing and  fired.  Immediately  the  bonnet  fell  to  the  floor. 
I  picked  it  up  and  handed  it  to  Mrs.  Polk,  asking  her 
in  the  meantime  if  it  was  hers.  She  examined  it  care- 
fully, and  said  it  was.  That  insured  my  success  in  the 
place,  and  I  played  to  crowded  houses  for  a  week. 
Now,  how  do  you  suppose  I  did  it?" 

"  You  didn't  tear  up  the  bonnet,"  replied  the  friend 
promptly. 

"Yes  I  did,"  said  the  Fakir.  "  That's  precisely 
where  I  made  my  hit.  The  bonnet  which  fell  from  the 


IN   NEW   YORK  AND   PHILADELPHIA.  205 

ceiling  was  a  precise  duplicate  of  Mrs.  Folk's  bonnet, 
which  I  had  had  made  by  a  milliner  as  soon  as  I  saw 
the  original  the  day  before,  and  also  ascertained  that 
Mrs.  Polk  would  be  at  the  exhibition.  You  see  I 
wanted  to  play  my  first  trick  on  a  person  so  prominent 
that  every  one  would  know  that  collusion  was  impos- 
sible, and  I  wanted  to  utterly  mystify  that  person,  as  I 
could  not  have  done  had  I  gone  back  to  the  stage  and 
done  my  trick  there.  You  see  it  took  the  audience  with 
me  from  the  start.  It's  more  the  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  than  any  particular  dexterity,  which  consti- 
tutes the  conjurer." 

"  Is  the  art  advancing?" 

"  Bless  you,  yes.  These  slate  tricks,  table  tippings, 
and  so  forth,  we  of  the  old  school  never  dreamed  of." 

About  the  middle  of  March  the  famous  pugilist, 
John  L.  Sullivan,  was  in  Philadelphia  t  >  meet  Dom- 
inick  McCaffrey  in  a  glove  fight.  He  first  had  an  en- 
counter witli  Kellar,  however.  The  following 
from  the  Philadelphia  Times  of  March  18,  1885,  ex- 
plains the  occurrence: 

After  John  L.  Sullivan  had  eaten  a  couple  of  pounds 
of  rare  beefsteak  at  breakfast  yesterday  morning,  at  the  Gi- 
rard  House,  he  sauntered  about  the  hotel  until  noon,  and 
then  took  a  walk  out  to  the  Chestnut  street  bridge,  with  his 
trainer,  Patsy  Sheppard.  His  cheeks  were  rosy  when  he 
got  back  to  the  hotel  at  nearly  two  o'clock,  and  he  remarked 
to  Sheppard  that  he  felt  as  strong  as  an  ox.  At  two  o'clock 
the  Boston  slugger  and  Sheppard  went  to  the  matinee  at 
Egyptian  Hall.  When  Professor  Kellar  began  his  cabinet 
trick,  he  invited  a  committee  to  go  on  the  stage  and  tie  him. 
The  audience  shouted  for  Sullivan,  who,  with  Mr.  George 
Lovell,  went  on  the  stage.  They  used  a  piece  of  rope  sim- 
ilar to  a  bell  cord  on  street  cars  to  tie  Kellar  with.  Sulli- 
van took  hold  of  one  end  of  the  rope,  and  Lovell  held  the 
other.  In  trying  to  tie  the  Professor's  right  wrist,  they 
broke  the  rope  in  two  pieces,  as  if  it  had  been  a  piece  of 
twine.  A  new  rope  was  obtained,  and  Kellar  was  finally 
tied.  He  then  invited  Sullivan  to  go  into  the  cabinet  with 


206  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

him.     Sullivan  went,  and,  in  relating  his  experience  last 
night,  said  : 

*'  I  never  was  so  much  surprised  in  my  life,  as  I  was  a 
few  minutes  after  1  went  into  Kellar's  cabinet.  1  said  to 
him,  'What  are  you  going  to  do  with  me  now?'  and  the  next 
thing  I  knew  my  overcoat  was  gone.  I  felt  all  around  for 
it,  but  couldn't  find  it,  and  then  I  was  chucked  out  of  the 
cabinet  on  to  the  stage,  as  if  I  had  been  shot  out  of  a  can- 
non. My  inside  coat  was  turned  inside  out,  and  I  lay 
sprawling  on  the  stage  as  if  somebody  had  tucked  me  in  the 
jugular.  I'll  be  blanked  if  Kellar  isn't  the  strongest  little 
man  1  ever  saw.  I  got  my  overcoat  back,  and  turned  my 
inside  coat  right  side  out,  and  got  off  the  stage.  I  don't 
want  any  more  cabinet  business;  not  this  trip,  anyhow." 
It  was  the  first  defeat  the  champion  had  ever  met  with. 

My  master  also  had  an  amusing  experience  with  the 
great  tragedian,  Edwin  Booth.  It  was  on  the  after- 
noon of  April  13,  1885,  that  Mr.  Booth,  Mr.  William 
M.  Singerley  and  Dr.  Furness,  a  member  of  the  Sey- 
bert  Commission,  attended  a  private  seance  at  Egyp- 
tian Hall,  and  it  was  a  very  much  surprised  tragedian 
who  shook  hands  with  the  Magician  Kellar  at  the 
close  of  the  performance.  It  was  the  cabinet  trick. 
Kellar,  after  being  securely  tied  to  a  chair  with  the  as- 
sistance of  Mr.  Booth,  asked  the  great  actor  to  put  his 
head  inside  of  the  cabinet.  Mr.  Booth  did  so,  and  in  a 
twinkling  his  hat  which  he  wore  was  transferred  to  the 
Magician's  head,  while  he  appeared  in  Kellar's  hat. 
The  look  of  blank  astonishment  that  spread  over  Mr. 
Booth's  face  was  ludicrous  in  the  extreme.  Kel- 
lar, still  securely  tied,  called  for  the  cabinet  doors  to 
be  closed.  In  an  instant  a  great  racket  was  being 
made  inside,  and  naked  arms  were  thrust  through 
the  apertures  in  the  doors.  "  Well !"  said  Dr.  Furness, 
dodging  a  tambourine  that  came  flying  out  of  the  cab- 
inet, "  what  do  you  think  of  it.  Booth?"  "  I  think," 
said  the  tragedian,  shouting  into  the  doctor's  ear 
trumpet,  "  that  it  is  the  devil."  A  plain  flat  table  was 
then  produced,  and  Mr.  Booth  was  asked  to  place  his 


KELLAR   AND   SPIRITUALISM.  207 

hands  on  it,  and  let  his  thumbs  touch  those  of  Kellar, 
who  stood  on  the  opposite  side.  This  was  done,  and 
the  table  was  lifted  into  the  air.  Mr.  Booth  let  go, 
and  in  a  moment  more  Kellar  brought  it  down 
with  a  loud  crash,  breaking  off  one  of  the  legs. 

Kellar  gave  a  number  of  "  benefit "  perform- 
ances during  his  stay  in  Philadelphia,  and  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  grand  performance  in  aid  of  the 
Actors'  Fund,  at  the  Academy  of  Music  on  the  9th 
of  April, 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

KELLAR  AND   SPIRITUALISM. 

WHILE  in  Philadelphia,  Kellar  was  sharply 
attacked  by  the  Banner  of  Light,  a  Boston  publication 
in  the  interest  of  spiritualism.  What  Editor  Colby 
was  pleased  to  term  his  "  gross  inconsistency  "  was 
harped  on  with  much  energy.  Kellar's  statement 
that  he  had  traveled  with  the  Davenport  Brothers  as 
their  assistant,  was  denied  by  the  Banner  on  the 
alleged  authority  of  Mr.  Ira  Davenport,  the  father  of 
the  brothers.  The  Banner  continues  : 

The  Davenports  left  New  York  on  the  27th  of  August, 
1864,  accompanied  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Ferguson,  a  gentleman  of 
education  and  position,  formerly  a  clergyman  of  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  as  their  agent.  He  was  forty-seven  years  of  age,  a 
man  of  integrity  and  honor,  of  high  religious  principles, 
purity  of  character,  deep  thought,  and  eloquent  expression, 
and  eminently  adapted  to  the  service  upon  which  he  at  this 
time  entered.  He  accompanied  the  brothers  to  Europe  as 
an  interpreter  to  the  public  of  the  objects  and  nature  of  the 
manifestations  made  in  their  presence.  Is  it  likely  that 
such  a  person  would  have  allowed  the  assistance,  interfer- 
ence or  presence  in  any  responsible  position,  of  this  Kellar, 
who  admits  that  he  was  "  a  boy  "  at  the  time  V 


208  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

Mr.  Kellar  says  :  "I  was  the  assistant  at  a  private 
seance,  which  the  Davenport  Brothers  gave  in  London  to 
a  number  of  gentlemen,  among  whom  were  Dion  Bouci- 
cault,  Charles  Reade,  Algernon  Borthwick,  Lord  Bury, 
Captain  Inglefield  and  others.  The  brothers  were  both 
tied  in  their  cabinet.  Lord  Bury  stepped  up  and  leaned 
over  one  of  them  to  examine  the  knot,  when  the  other 
quickly  slapped  him  on  the  back.  There  was  a  murmur  in 
the  room.  These  great  men  were  struck  with  awe.  Now, 
let  me  tell  you,  this  rope  trick  depends  upon  mere  physical 
dexterity,  and  the  slap  was  made  like  a  flash  and  pretty 
hard."  But  here  is  the  description  Dion  Boucicault  wrote 
of  it :  "A  small,  white,  delicate  female  hand  suddenly 
appeared  above  one  of  the  doors  of  the  cabinet.  It  quiv- 
ered for  several  seconds,  and  then,  slowly  descending, 
tapped  Lord  Bury  gently  on  the  shoulder,  and  then  melted 
in  air."  Mr.  Kellar  adds  :  "  It  is  just  in  this  way  that 
otherwise  sensible  people  allow  their  senses  to  be  deceived, 
and  their  imaginations  preyed  upon." 

Now  let  us  see  how  far  these  sensible  people  allowed 
such  disastrous  consequences;  and  to  do  so  go  to  Mr. 
Boucicault  himself.  The  seance  to  which  Mr.  Kellar  re- 
fers occurred  in  Mr.  Boucicault's  house,  on  the  evening  of 
October  11,  18G4.  In  addition  to  those  whom  Mr.  Kellar 
mentions  as  having  been  present,  were,  Sir  Charles  Nichol- 
son, Sir  John  Gardner,  Sir  C.  Lennox  Wyke,  Rev.  E.  H. 
Newenham,  Rev.  W.  Ellis,  Mr.  James  Matthews,  Mr.  I. 
Willes,  Mr.  H.  E.  Ornerod,  Mr.  J.  W.  Kaye,  Mr.  J.  A. 
Bostock,  Mr.  H.  J.  Rideout,  Mr.  Robert  Bell,  Mr.  J.  N. 
Mangles,  Mr.  H.  N.  Dunphy,  W.  Tyler  Smith,  M.  D.,  Mr. 
E.Tyler  Smith,  Mr.  T.  L."  Co  ward,  John  Brown,  M.  D.» 
and  the  eminent  author  and  publisher,  Mr.  Robert  Cham- 
bers. These  are  they  whom  this  conjurer,  Kellar,  flippantly 
alludes  to  as  having  had  their  senses  deceived,  and  their 
imaginations  preyed  upon. 

On  October  12th,  the  day  after  the  seance,  Mr.  Bouci- 
cault wrote  an  account  of  it  to  the  editor  of  the  London 
Daily  New**,  a  copy  of  which  lies  before  us.  In  the  course 
of  Mr.  B's  letter,  occurs  the  following  passage,  referring  to 
the  incident  mentioned  by  Mr.  Kellar;  compare  it  with 
Mr.  Kellar's  version  : 


KELLAR   AND   SPIRITUALISM.  209 

"While  Lord  Bury  was  stooping  inside  the  cabinet,  the 
the  door  being  open  and  the  two  operators  seen  to  be 
seated  and  bound,  a  detached  hand  was  clearly  observed  to 
descend  upon  him,  and  he  started  back,  remarking  that  a 
hand  had  struck  him.  Again,  in  the  full  light  of  the  gas 
chandelier,  and  during  an  interval  in  the  seance,  the  doors 
of  the  cabinet  being  open,  and  while  the  ligatures  of  the 
Brothers  Davenport  were  being  examined,  a  very  white, 
thin  female  hand  and  wrist  quivered  for  several  seconds  in 
the  air  above.  The  appearance  drew  a  general  exclama- 
tion from  all  the  party." 

The  Banner  of  Light  editors  deny  that  there  are 
any  fraudulent  mediums.  When  a  medium  is  caught 
in  a  trick,  the  Banner  people  insist  that  he  was  simply 
under  the  control  of  wicked  spirits,  who  maliciously 
try  to  make  trouble  wherever  they  can.  No  amount 
of  u  exposure  "  can  convince  such  men  of  fraud  on  the 
part  of  a  medium,  and  their  credulity  is  equaled  by 
that  of  thousands  of  those  who  endorse  the  spiritual- 
istic doctrine.  The  following  extract  from  the  Banner 
of  Light  of  the  same  date  as  tbat  which  contained  the 
extract  quoted  above,  shows  the  childlike  confidence 
with  which  assertions  of  the  mediums  are  received  by 
many  spiritualists : 

THE  ALLEGED  EXPOSUEE  OF  MOTT. 

There  is  no  question  in  our  mind  but  that  Mr.  J.  H. 
Mott  is  a  bona  fide  medium,  netwithstanding  the  allega- 
tions of  fraud  against  him  which  have  recently  appeared  in 
the  Kansas  City  and  other  newspapers.  The  people  where 
he  belongs,  intimate  friends  and  acquaintances,  who  have 
had  sittings  with  him  very  many  times,  all  attest  to  his 
reliability  as  a  medium  for  the  physical  manifestations. 
Skeptics  may  imagine  that  they  ha\7e  really  exposed  him 
by  "  squirting  "  analine  upon  the  spirit  forms,  and  subse- 
quently finding  the  same  on  the  body  of  the  medium;  yet 
this  fact  proves  nothing  in  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
which  practical  experience  in  such  matters  has  demon- 
strated, not  only  to  us  but  others  who  have  given  the  subject 
close  attention.  For  instance,  when  the  Allen  Boy  me- 

14 


210  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

dium  visited  Portland,  Me.,  several  years  ago,  and  held 
seances  there  under  the  patronage  of  Mr.  J.  B.  Hall,  then 
connected  with  the  Portland  Press,  a  reporter  bedaubed  a 
portion  of  his  back  hair  with  printers'  ink,  then  stood  at  the 
aperture  from  which  spirit  hands  and  arms  issued.  The  re- 
sult upon  this  particular  occasion  was,  that,  after  the  spirit 
hand  pulled  the  reporter's  hair,  a  request  was  made  to  see 
the  medium's  hand;  when,  lo  and  behold  !  ink  was  seen 
upon  the  medium's  fingers,  which  was  decided  then  and 
there  to  be  a  conclusive  proof  of  fraud.  Even  Mr.  Hall, 
the  manager  of  the  medium,  was  perplexed  in  regard  to 
the  case,  and  wrote  to  us  for  an  explanation,  if  one  could 
be  given.  After  consultation  with  several  of  our  spirit 
friends,  we  were  informed  that  the  ink  from  the  hair 
pulled  by  the  spirit  hand,  as  above  described,  was  simply 
an  electrical  transfer  from  the  spirit's  hand  to  the  medium's 
— that,  consequently,  the  medium  had  committed  no  fraud 
whatever.  It  was  also  told  us  that  if  we  would  procure  a 
certain  number  of  individuals,  whom  the  spirits  named,  and 
hold  a  circle  under  spirit  direction,  they  could  prove  that 
the  Allen  Boy  medium  was  innocent  of  the  least  trickery; 
and  we  were  requested  to  write  to  Mr.  Hall  to  ask  his 
friends  to  suspend  judgment  in  the  case,  until  we  had  ex- 
perimented with  a  physical  medium,  in  regard  to  the  trans- 
fer of  colors. 

We  then  secured  the  services  of  an  excellent  physical 
medium,  Mrs.  Annie  Lord  Chamberlain,  who  will  corrob- 
orate our  statement,  and  held  our  seance  in  the  Banner 
Building,  where  she  was  located  at  the  time.  After  firmly 
securing  Mrs.  C.  to  her  chair  (which  was  stapled  to  the 
floor)  we  seated  the  company  around  the  table.  The  mu- 
sical instruments,  excepting  the  brass  drum,  which  was 
suspended  to  the  ceiling  ten  feet  above  the  medium's 
head,  we  took  into  our  printing  office  one  story  below,  not 
allowing  any  one  present  to  know  what  we  intended — not 
even  the  medium  herself.  We  then  crocked  the  bass 
drumstick  with  a  thin  coating  of  black  ink,  so  that  if  any 
one  should  handle  it,  the  ink  would  be  transferred;  we  also 
striped  the  large  bell-handle  (four  inches  in  length)  with 
red  ink;  on  another  instrument  we  made  three  dots  with 
blue  ink.  We  subsequently  placed  the  various  instruments 


KELLAR  AND   SPIRITUALISM.  211 

upon  a  side  table  out  of  reach  of  the  medium,  took  our 
seats  on  the  right  of  the  lady,  placing  a  friend  on  the  left 
to  be  sure  she  did  nothing  with  her  left  hand,  while  the 
right  hand  was  passing  continually,  during  the  beating  of 
the  drums  and  ringing  of  the  bells,  over  the  back  of  our 
left  hand.  At  this  time  the  light  was  extinguished,  and 
while  it  remained  so  the  drum  was  beaten  and  the  bells 
rung.  Upon  turning  on  the  gas,  to  our  astonishment  and 
to  the  astonishment  of  every  one  in  the  room,  the  drum- 
stick was  seen  falling  from  the  drum,  and  upon  examining 
the  medium  it  was  ascertained  that  the  hollow  of  her  right 
hand  was  completely  crocked  with  black  ink,  precisely  as  it 
would  have  been,  had  she  handled  the  drumstick.  Thus 
the  fact  that  a  materialized  hand  did  the  drumming  was 
fully  demonstrated.  We  also  found  a  streak  of  red  ink, 
an  exact  counterpart  of  that  upon  the  bell  handle,  on  the 
neck  of  the  medium;  besides  the  dots  on  another  part  of 
her  form  were  reported  as  having  been  seen  by  the  ladies 
who  subsequently  examined  her  person,  thus  proving  con- 
clusively to  every  one  present  the  absolute  fact  of  the 
transference  of  colors  by  spirit  agency  alone. 

Taking  these  facts  into  consideration  then,  .what  is  the 
hypothesis  in  regard  to  the  analine  coloring  fluid  which 
was  found  upon  the  medium  Mott?  Simply  that  it  was  an 
electrical  transfer,  and  nothing  else.  We  fully  agree  with 
our  Philadelphia  contemporary,  Mind  and  Matter,  which 
says:  "The  doubt  about  the  case  prevented  a  consideration 
in  that  connection,  of  the  demonstrated  fact  that  marks 
left  upon  the  dress  or  person  of  a  spirit  form,  had  been 
found  upon  the  medium,  when  the  marked  spirit  form  was 
seen  to  vanish  as  it  was  absorbed  by  the  medium  from 
whose  organism  it  had  emanated." 

When  spiritualists  themselves  (to  say  nothing  of  skep- 
tics) learn  more  fully  of  the  subtle  laws  which  govern 
genuine  mediumship  in  all  its  phases,  they  will  be  less 
swift  to  condemn,  as  some  do,  these  subjects  of  the  spirit- 
world  workers;  and  hence  we  fully  agree  with  the  paper 
above  mentioned,  that  "  a  great  outrage  has  been  perpe- 
trated upon  Mrs.  Mott." 


212  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

AT   HIS   OLD   HOME. 

After  a  short  Brooklyn  season,  and  a  series  of 
performances  at  Atlantic  City,  Asbury  Park,  and  other 
seaside  resorts,  my  master  paid  a  professional  visit 
to  Erie,  his  old  home.  The  Erie  Herald  of  Sept.  12, 
1885,  says :  "  Since  the  announcement  that  Harry 
Kellar,  the  celebrated  magician,  had  come  home  on  a 
visit,  and  would  give  a  series  of  entertainments  at 
the  Opera  House,  JVIonday,  Tuesday  and  Wednesday, 
and  Wednesday  matinee,  the  manager  of  the  Opera 
House  has  had  a  steady  demand  for  seats."  The 
Dispatch  lovingly  called  him  "  Erie's  demon.'*  Con- 
cerning the  performance,  the  Herald  of  Sept.  15th 
said: 

Never  did  the  Park  Opera  House  contain  a  more  appre- 
ciative audience  than  that  which  filled  it  to  overflowing  last 
evening,  to  witness  Kellar's  wonderful  performance.  Great 
as  is  the  reputation  which  he  has  made  abroad,  the  people 
of  his  native  city  could  hardly  believe  that  he  had  attained 
such  a  high  degree  of  proficiency.  It  would  require  a 
couple  of  columns  of  space  to  describe  the  performance  in 
detail.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  promises  made  in  re- 
gard to  it  were  more  that  fulfilled.  The  expression  of  one 
enthusiastic  gentleman  who  sat  watching  the  performance 
of  the  great  magician — "  He's  the  devil  himself  " — was  in 
a  modified  sense  the  general  sentiment.  In  short,  Kellar's 
exhibition  is  marvelous.  Everybody  was  charmed,  not 
only  by  his  skill,  but  by  his  stage  presence  and  his  easy 
and  polished  manner.  The  impression  which  he  made 
upon  his  audience  was  that  of  the  gentleman  and  scholar. 
Erie  feels  proud  of  the  great  and  only  Kellar. 


AT  HIS  OLD  HOME.  218 

The  Herald  of  Sept.  17th  said : 

Last  evening  Harry  Kellar  gave  his  farewell  perform- 
ance at  the  Opera  House.  The  audience  was  a  representa- 
tive one,  and  was  even  larger  than  either  of  those  of  the 
two  preceding  nights.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  perform- 
ance, Mr.  Kellar  thanked  his  audience  for  the  manner  in 
which  they  had  received  him  in  this,  his  native  place.  He 
assured  them  he  would  remember  them  with  gratitude. 
During  his  stay  in  this  city  he  renewed  hundreds  of  ac- 
quaintances. Before  leaving,  he  made  his  parents  presents 
of  good  sized  checks,  and  gave  his  nieces  a  gold  watch 
each. 

The  Dispatch  said : 

On  Monday  night,  Harry  Kellar,  the  renowned  presti- 
digitator and  a  native  of  Erie,  opened  a  three  nights' 
engagement  to  a  packed  house,  and  gave  such  universal 
satisfaction,  that  for  the  next  two  nights  there  was  no  stand- 
ing room,  and  many  were  tu-rned  away.  He  is  not  only 
the  most  accomplished  master  of  the  "  black  art"  who  ever 
visited  Erie,  but  he  is  also  a  polished  gentleman,  and  a 
thorough  student  and  scholar. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  1885,  the  Magician  in- 
augurated a  New  York  season  at  the  Comedy  Theatre, 
Broadway  and  Twenty-ninth  Street.  His  success  was 
unequivocal.  The  World,  the  Journal,  the  Graphic, 
Tid  Bits,  the  Police  Gazette,  and  other  papers  made 
his  entertainment  the  subject  of  elaborate  illustrated 
articles.  The  Clipper  published  his  portrait,  cabinet 
size,  with  a  very  complimentary  notice,  and  he  was 
most  cordially  welcomed  on  every  hand.  At  one 
performance  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  an  inter- 
ested spectator,  and  after  the  entertainment  he 
complimented  Kellar,  by  saying  that  most  of  the 
tricks  were  beyond  his  comprehension,  although  he 
was  familiar  with  the  methods  employed  by  almost  all 
of  the  modern  magicians.  The  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
ninth  performance  of  the  New  York  season  was 
celebrated  on  the  evening  of  February  2, 1886,  by  the 


214  A  MAGICIAN'S  TOUR. 

presentation  of  a  handsome  souvenir  to  each  lady  and 
child  in  the  crowded  audience. 

The  New  York  season  was  brought  to  a  close  on 
February  19th,  after  a  run  of  179  consecutive  per- 
formances, and  on  the  15th  of  the  following  month  my 
master  returned  to  Philadelphia,  giving  performances 
at  the  Arch  Street  Opera  House,  to  large  audiences, 
until  May,  when  he  took  the  road.  His  first  stop  was 
for  a  week  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  thence  to  Pittsburgh, 
Cincinnati,  Chicago  (at  the  latter  place  he  made  the 
longest  run  on  record,  103  nights),  and  the  principal 
cities  of  the  West  and  Southwest,  meeting  with  a 
gratifying  reception  everywhere. 

Having  thus  briefly  sketched  the  more  or  less 
supernatural  and  decidedly  checkered  career  of  my 
great  master,  I,  his  "  familiar,"  and  in  this  instance 
his  scribe,  take  leave  of  him  and  my  polite  readers  for 
the  time.  We  shall  meet  again,  however,  if  my 
readers  are  by  any  means  interested  in  what  I  have 
set  down.  Wizards  and  sorcerers  are  immortal,  and 
their  fame,  at  any  rate,  lives  after  them.  The  Magician, 
like  the  King,  lives  for  ever. 


BEAUTIFUL  MISS  MENTON. 


THE    MENTONS. 


WAS  IT  A  CRIME? 


BY   C.   F.    R,   HAYVVARD. 


CMICAOO: 

DONOHUE,  HENNEBERRY  &  CO 

407-425  DEARBORN  STREET 


COPYRIGHT,  1887, 

IT  B.  B.  DONNELLEY  &  SOWS, 
CHICAGO 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTBB.  PA6K. 

I.— OLD  ENEMIES  MEET,         ....  g 

II. — AMID  RETORTS  AND  FURNACES,        •          •  -22 

III. — BEAUTIFUL  HELENE  MENTON,                           •  8? 

IV. — IT  WAS  HARDLY  MURDER,         •               •               •  35 

V. — "WHY  NOT  MORE  THAN  FRIENDS,"            •               •  43 

VI — IT  WAS  A  SWELL  NIGHT  AT  THE  MENTONS,  -     54 

VII. — "  SHE  is  A  SHE  DEVIL,"    ....  66 

VIII. — "MY  GOD!    THIS  is  AWFUL,"            -           •  75 

IX. — "BUT  is  IT  RETRIBUTION!— RETRIBUTION!"      -  86 

X. — "I  CALL  GOD  TO  WITNESS  THAT  I  DID  NOT  KILL 

PAUL  DENMAN,"     •  94 
XI. — HER  HAND  RELAXED  ITS  HOLD  UPON   THE  RAIL- 
ING, AND  SHE  FELL  FROM  THE  WITNESS  CHAIR,  103 
XII. — "THANK  GOD  THERE  IS  LlGHT  AHEAD,"  -    117 
XIII. — A  BURNING   DESIRE  FOR  REVENGE  UPON   THE 

MAN  WHO  HAD  ROBBED  ME  OF  MY  LOVE,     -  -    127 

XIV.— "NOT  GUILTY,"      .....  140 
XV. — THINK  OF  TRE  AWFUL  VENGEANCE  SHE  WREAKED 

THROUGH  YOU.            .....  152 


THE    MENTONS. 

WAS  IT  A  CRIME? 


CHAPTER  I. 

OLD   ENEMIES   MEET. 

"  What  a  strange  old  gentleman  your  father  is, 
Miss  Menton,"  said  Mrs.  Mittens. 

Mrs.  Mittens  is  one  of  those  women  who  look  to 
be  anywhere  between  thirty  and  fifty.  Her  eyes 
are  faded ;  so  are  Tier  cheeks,  though  she  has  found 
a  means  of  partly  disguising  the  hard  wrinkles 
which  have  made  eccentric  zig-zag  lines  through 
them.  When  she  speaks  it  is  apologetically;  when 
she  laughs  it  is  hysterically,  and  when  she  is  silent 
it  pains  one  to  look  at  her. 

She  had  seen  old  Mr.  Menton  on  several  occa- 
sions— caught  furtive  glimpses  of  him  as  he  had 
passed  a  door,  or  slipped  silently  up  the  stairway. 
But  she  had  never  heard  Miss  Menton  speak  of 

him;  and  this  had  set  Mrs.  Mittens  to  thinking. 

o  12 


10  "WAS    IT    A    CKIME? 

There  was  one  quality  which  this  washed-out 
little  widow  possessed  in  all  its  pristine  vigor  —  she 
was  as  inquisitive  as  she  had  been  twenty  years 
before;  and  the  peculiar  fact  that  Miss  Menton' s 
father  never  joined  in  the  conversations  of  his 
daughter's  guests  —  never  even  gave  his  presence  to 
the  nightly  assemblages  in  his  own  house,  con- 
vinced Mrs.  Mittens  that  there  was  some  secret 
reason  for  his  mysterious  conduct.  She  had  been 
eagerly  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  apply  the  in- 
quisitorial pump  to  Miss  Menton. 

It  offered  itself  in  this  way:  The  old  gentleman, 
still  vigorous  under  the  weight  of  sixty  years,  with 
eyes  like  a  hawk's,  which  glittered  under  a  fringe 
of  shaggy  gray  brows,  had,  a  moment  prior  to  Mrs. 
Mittens'  question,  entered  the  dining-room.  After 
recognizing  its  half  dozen  occupants  with  a  digni- 
fied bow,  he  had  requested  his  daughter  to  come  to 
his  study  before  she  retired.  That  was  all.  He 
had  gone  out  as  he  had  entered,  and  his  footsteps 
soon  died  away  as  he  ascended  the  stairs  leading  to 
his  study. 

"Strange!  How,  strange,  Mrs.  Mittens?  I  do 
not  understand  you." 

Miss  Menton  spoke  with  an  icy  deliberation 
which  chilled  little  Mrs.  Mittens  to  the  marrow. 


OLD   ENEMIES    MEET.  11 

She  stared  at  Miss  Menton  helplessly  for  a  moment, 
and  then  gathered  her  wits  sufficiently  to  make 
answer  that  she  had  merely  meant  to  remark  "  that 
Mr.  Menton  didn't  seem  to  like  society." 

The  beautiful  woman  who  had  caused  Mrs. 
Mittens'  discomfiture  thawed  a  little.  Throwing 
back  her  head  she  said,  with  a  patronizing  smile: 

"  Father  is  devoted  to  his  studies.  He  has  but 
little  time  for  society.  But  I'm  sure  he  would  feel 
hurt  if  he  knew  you  thought  him  unsocial." 

This  sugared  sarcasm  was  wholly  lost  upon  Mrs. 
Mittens.  She  was  glad  to  escape  so  easily,  and  she 
suppressed  herself  for  the  remainder  of  the  evening. 

Mr.  Lawrence  Montague,  a  stage-struck  young 
man  who  had  become  an  actor,  but  who  had  never 
been  able  to  convince  even  the  critics  that  he  knew 
anything  about  his  art  —  he  was  really  not  a  bad 
fellow,  off  the  stage  —  had  just  asked  the  fair 
hostess  if  she  did  not  think  that  realism  in  art  was 
robbing  the  stage  of  its  romance,  when  a  servant 
brought  in  a  card.  Miss  Menton  looked  at  it. 

"  Show  them  up,"  she  said. 

"  Mr.  Wheeler  and  a  friend,"  she  added,  turning 
to  her  guests.  "  I  wonder  who  the  friend  is?  I 
beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Montague;  what  did  you  say 
about  realism  ?  " 


12  WAS   IT   A    CRIME? 

"I  said,"  repeated  the  actor,  impiessively,  -'that 
realism  is  crowding r/ 

"Ah!  here's  Mr.  Wheeler,"  said  Col.  McPhister, 
who  had  been  half-dozing  in  an  easy  chair  in  the 
corner;  and  poor  Mr.  Montague  did  not  get  the 
sympathy  which  his  romantic  nature  and  his  ideal- 
ized views  of  the  dramatic  art  craved. 

None  of  the  company  thought  it  unusual  that 
Wheeler  should  bring  a  friend  to  a  house  where  he 
himself  was  merely  a  visitor,  without  the  formality 
of  first  asking  permission  of  the  hostess.  There 
was  nothing  conventional  about  the  Mentons.  One 
did  about  as  one  pleased  at  their  house. 

Mr.  Henry  Wheeler,  artist  and  magazine  scrib- 
bler, a  constant  caller  at  the  Mentons,  entered, 
accompanied  by  his  friend. 

"  My  old  chum,  Mr.  Denman,"  said  he,  present- 
ing his  companion  to  Miss  Menton. 

Wheeler's  friend  had  entered  the  doorway  as 
self-possessed  as  an  indifferent  man  of  the  world 
could  be.  But  when  he  raised  his  eyes  to  recognize 
the  introduction,  he  changed  color  perceptibly;  and 
Miss  Menton  turned  pale.  She  stared  at  the  man 
before  her  as  if  in  doubt  whether  to  take  the  hand 
he  had  extended.  His  embarrassment  was  too  pain- 


OLD   ENEMIES   MEET.  13 

ful  to  witness.  Finally  Miss  Menton  said  with 
much  sweetness  and  grace: 

"  Mr.  Denman  is  welcome — as  all  of  Mr.  Wheel- 
er's friends  are;"  and  she  at  once  turned  her  atten- 
tion to  her  guests,  entertaining  them  with  a  rare 
tact  which  had  made  her  famous. 

But  Paul  Denman  did  not  recover  his  equanimity 
so  readily.  He  sat  pale  and  silent  throughout  the 
evening.  His  one  or  two  attempts  to  appear  at  ease 
were  awkward  failures.  Wheeler,  who  had  witnessed 
with  surprise  the  embarrassment  which  the  meeting 
between  his  friend  and  Miss  Menton  had  caused 
both,  watched  him  as  closely  as  he  could  without 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  others,  and  tried  to 
conceive  a  satisfactory  explanation. 

It  was  with  a  feeling  of  infinite  relief  that  Den- 
man saw  him  rise  and  say  good  night  to  Miss  Men- 
ton,  and  he  smiled  for  the  first  time  during  his  brief 
stay  in  the  Menton  house  when  the  woman,  the  sud- 
den meeting  with  whom  had  so  visibly  affected  him, 
held  out  her  hand  and  very  frankly  and  cordially 
bade  him  repeat  his  visit  soon. 

Paul  Denman  was  not  a  man  whose  appearance 
invited  confidence,  though  it  was  not  altogether 
unprepossessing.  He  was  tall,  well  built,  with  good 
features,  and  an  easy,  graceful  carriage.  But  there 


14  WAS   IT   A   CEIME? 

was  a  something  about  him  that  repelled  one.  A  phy- 
siognomist would  have  said  that  his  eyes  were  deceit- 
ful, his  mouth  cruel  and  sensual.  Whatever  it  was  in 
his  nature  that  told  one  he  was  not  a  man  to  trust, 
readers  of  human  nature  were  not  slow  to  discover 
its  presence.  Children  were  afraid  of  him,  and 
good  women  avoided  him.  And  yet  he  was  popular, 
in  a  way,  with  men.  He  was  a  brilliant  conversa- 
tionalist, and  delightfully  entertaining  as  a  raconteur. 
He  had  been  absent  from  New  York  for  eight  years 
—  since  the  death  of  his  father,  who  had  left  him  a 
snug  patrimony  which  he  might  by  industry  have 
enlarged  into  a  magnificent  fortune,  but  which  he 
had  chosen  to  friiter  away  in  the  fleeting  enjoyments 
of  a  fast  life. 

When  Wheeler  met  him  by  accident  that  morn- 
ing he  had  not  been  two  hours  ashore  from  the 
Etruria,  which  had  brought  him  back  to  his  native 
land.  They  had  been  chums  at  college,  though 
there  had  never  been  much  sympathy  between  them, 
and  Wheeler  had  not  hesitated  to  inquire  if  he  had 
come  back  to  America  to  go  to  work  for  a  living. 

"  Not  quite  so  bad  as  that,"  Denman  had  replied, 
"  but  devilish  close  to  it.  By  economy  " —  and  he 
laughed  derisively  to  show,  his  contempt  for  the 


OLD   ENEMIES    MEET.  15 

word  — "  I  suppose  I  can  scrub  along  for  a  couple  of 
years  longer  as  a  gentleman." 

Wheeler  had  invited  him  to  be  his  guest  until 
he  should  decide  whether  he  would  remain  in  New 
York,  or  go  to  San  Francisco  to  visit  a  sister  who 
resided  there,  and  Denman  had  accepted.  Wheeler 
was  one  of  the  few  persons  whom  Denman  really 
liked  —  or  thought  he  liked. 

"  One  would  not  have  much  trouble  in  guessing 
that  the  occupant  of  these  rooms  is  an  artist,"  said 
Denman,  as  he  lit  his  cigar,  and  sank  comfortably 
into  a  large  chair  and  gazed  lazily  about  him,  upon 
their  return  from  the  Mentons.  He  seemed  to  have 
forgotten  all  about  the  unpleasant  episode  of  an 
hour  before. 

Wheeler  had  three  rooms.  The  two  larger  ones 
were  connected  by  folding  doors,  which  were  always 
open.  A  small  apartment,  adjoining  the  real  parlor 
— which  Wheeler  used  as  a  studio,  in  which  he 
painted  passable  pictures  and  wrote  clever  sketches 
and  critiques  —  was  the  artist's  bedroom.  They 
were  seated  in  the  studio.  The  walls  were  deco- 
rated with  all  sorts  of  odd  conceits.  There  were 
studies  in  crayon,  water  color  and  oil,  half -finished 
pictures,  a  few  really  good  paintings — by  other 
artists  —  and  a  dozen  or  more  rare  engravings  and 


16  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

etchings.  A  collection  of  old  swords,  lances,  daggers 
and  pistols,  with  a  shield  in  the  center,  hung  upon 
the  wall,  arranged  with  artistic  effect.  On  the  man- 
tel beneath  there  were  two  very  delicate  statuettes, 
a  clock,  and  half  a  dozen  smaller  objects.  An  easel 
stood  in  one  corner  of  the  studio,  on  which  there 
was  a  stretched  canvas  with  a  blue  sky  background 
painted  across  the  top,  and  a  few  dim  outlines 
scratched  on  the  lower  half.  The  front  room 
Wheeler  called  his  chamber  of  state,  An  old-fash- 
ioned bedstead,  high  and  Puritanical  in  its  severity, 
stood  in  one  corner.  The  half  dozen  chairs  which 
were  scattered  about  were  old  style  and  unique. 
Wheeler  had  succeeded  admirably  in  producing  an 
antique  effect  of  the  tout  ensemble. 

The  artist  was  not  in  his  usual  cheerful  mood. 
His  thoughts  reverted  to  the  meeting  between  Miss 
Menton  and  Denman.  Again  and  again  he  tried  to 
solve  the  mystery  of  that  strange  expression  in  Miss 
Menton' s  eyes,  the  sudden  pallor  of  her  face,  and 
the  embarrassment  of  Denman.  While  his  friend 
was  admiring  the  general  arrangement  of  the  rooms 
and  their  furnishings,  Wheeler  arose  and  walked  to 
the  fire-place;  looked  thoughtfully  into  its  vacant 
blackness,  and  then  suddenly  turned  to  Denman  and 
asked  earnestly: 


OLD   ENEMIES   MEET.  17 

"  What  is  there  between  you  and  Miss  Menton  ?  " 

A  shade  of  annoyance  crossed  his  friend's  face. 
He  moved  uneasily  in  his  chair. 

"  Nothing,"  he  answered,  evasively. 

"  But  you  have  met  her  before? " 

"Yes." 

"Where?" 

"  In  Paris." 

"When?" 

"  Five  years  ago." 

"Were  you  intimately  acquainted  with  her?" 

"No." 

"It  was  not  a  love  affair  then?"  with  a  nervous 
attempt  at  a  laugh. 

"No." 

Wheeler  looked  relieved.  Denman  arose  and 
walked  to  the  window. 

"Do  you  get  a  good  light  for  your  work  here?  " 
he  asked. 

"  Good  enough,"  answered  Wheeler,  absently. 
"  But  tell  me,"  he  added,  impulsively,  "  why  should 
your  meeting  with  Miss  Menton  have  caused  you  so 
much  embarrassment?  " 

Denman  frowned.  "  See  here,  old  man,"  said  he, 
turning  from  the  window  and  looking  his  compan- 
ion square  in  the  face,  "  it  can  do  you  no  good  to 


18  WAS   IT   A   CBIME? 

know  anything  about  why  I  was  for  the  moment 
upset  to  find  myself  face  to  face  with  Miss  Menton. 
If  you  had  told  me  the  name  of  the  woman  whom  I 
was  to  meet,  I  would  not  have  gone  with  you.  How- 
ever, I  am  surprised  that  she  recognized  me.  We 
were  never  even  friends.  Let  that  satisfy  you  for 
the  present.  Some  day  I  may  tell  you  the  whole 
story  —  though  it  would  probably  put  you  to  sleep," 
and  Denman  yawned  as  if  the  mere  thought  of  it 
were  soporific. 

To  Wheeler  there  was  something  exasperating 
in  Denman' s  manner.  He  felt,  too,  that  his  friend 
was  concealing  something  from  him ;  but  he  merely 
said: 

"Very  well;  as  you  please.  Of  course  it's  no 
affair  of  mine." 

Wheeler  tried  to  say  this  as  if  he  really  did  not 
care  to  know  the  history  of  the  "affair;"  but  he 
soon  relapsed  into  a  moody  silence.  Denman  looked 
at  his  friend  furtively,  and,  without  changing  his 
expression,  picked  up  a  comic  paper  which  was  lying 
upon  the  table  and  began  to  turn  its  leaves  list- 
lessly. He  only  half  guessed  the  reason  of  Wheel- 
er's inquisitiveness.  He  thought  it  was  merely  idle 
curiosity.  It  never  entered  his  head  that  Wheeler 
was  in  love  with  Miss  Menton,  and  Wheeler  himself 


OLD   ENEMIES   MEET.  19 

would  not  have^  admitted  it,  for  the  reason  that  he  did 
not  know  it.  And  in  truth  he  was  not  in  love  with  her, 
though  with  an  artist's  eye  he  had  admired  the  lines 
of  her  superb  figure ;  and  the  peculiar  dreaminess  of 
her  red-brown  eyes  had  impressed  him  strangely. 
But  an  infatuation  for  the  beautiful  Miss  Menton 
had  been  growing  within  him  none  the  less  strong 
because  of  his  unconsciousness  of  it.  It  never 
occurred  to  him  that  he  might  one  day  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  get  out  of  the  meshes  into  which  he  had  vol. 
untarily  plunged. 

The  meeting  between  Denman  and  Miss  Menton, 
the  former's  refusal  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  pal- 
pable uneasiness  of  both  attending  it;  Denman's 
evident  desire  to  conceal  from  him  the  history  of 
their  acquaintance  in  Paris,  and  Miss  Menton's  sud- 
den change  from  coldness  to  warmth,- as  she  invited 
Denman  to  repeat  his  visit  —  all  this  irritated 
Wheeler,  and  he  lashed  himself  into  a  silent  passion 
of  jealousy.  He  made  himself  believe  that  he  was 
simply  annoyed  because  Denman  had  not  given  him 
his  full  confidence,  to  which  he  convinced  himself 
he  was  entitled  through  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
the  cause  of  their  meeting. 

Henry  Wheeler  was  an  impulsive,  warm-hearted 
fellow  of  thirty-two;  as  susceptible  to  kindness  as 


20  WAS   IT   A    CKIME? 

to  sunshine ;  moody  at  times,  always  illusionary,  and, 
though  of  a  cheerful,  open  disposition,  a  victim  to 
presentiments.  He  lacked  poise.  If  the  day  on 
which  he  was  about  to  seek  a  purchaser  for  his  last 
painting  or  critique  were  cloudy,  he  regarded  it  as 
an  omen  of  failure.  If  he  were  contemplating  an 
undertaking,  the  success  of  which  seemed  doubtful, 
he  would  flip  a  coin  in  the  air.  If  it  fell  "tails" 
when  he  had  mentally  called  "heads,"  he  would  try 
the  charm  again,  and  if  with  the  same  result,  he 
would  either  turn  from  his  purpose  in  morbid  dis- 
couragement or  go  about  it  weighed  down  by  the 
conviction  that  he  would  fail.  His  moral  nature 
was  a  weathercock,  which  swung  more  easily  to  the 
right  than  to  the  wrong,  but  which  any  wind,  good 
or  bad,  could  move,  were  it  strong  enough. 

The  physical  man  was  pronounced.  He  stood 
six  feet  in  his  stockings,  and  was  of  symmetrical 
proportions.  A  pair  of  hazel  eyes  looked  out  at 
you  from  under  a  high  brow,  almost  abnormally 
developed  at  the  sides,  where  the  hair  grew  away 
from  the  temples.  A  phrenologist  would  have  said 
that  the  organs  of  ideality  and  sublimity  were  devel- 
oped so  greatly  in  excess  of  the  other  organs  as  to 
make  it  impossible  for  Henry  Wheeler  to  view  the 
affairs  of  every-day  life  from  a  practical  standpoint. 


OLD   ENEMIES   MEET.  21 

It  is  very  rarely  that  a  man  of  his  temperament 
attains  perfect  physical  development;  and  Wheeler 
would  not  have  attained  it  but  for  his  great  love  of 
the  fields  and  the  water.  He  would  stroll  for  hours 
across  the  rolling  farms  on  the  Hudson,  happy  to  be 
alone  with  the  birds  and  flowers;  and  he  found 
scarcely  less  delight  in  sailing  and  rowing.  He 
was  a  paradox  in  more  ways  than  in  his  mental  and 
physical  temperament.  Though  possessed  of  great 
spirituality,  yet  he  was  at  times  grossly  material; 
though  tender  hearted  as  a  woman  and  generous  in 
his  instincts,  yet  he  could  be  guilty  of  the  most 
atrocious  and  cruel  selfishness.  He  never  studied 
himself,  nor  attempted  to  solve  the  lack  of  harmony 
in  his  nature. 

A  yawn  from  Denman  aroused  Wheeler  from  his 
feverish  musings.  He  chided  himself  for  having 
acted  so  ungraciously  to  a  guest,  and  with  as  much 
cheerfulness  of  countenance  as  he  could  assume,  he 
showed  Denman  to  his  room,  and  bade  him  good  night. 

Denman' s  eyes  glittered  with  coarse  desire  as  he 
sat  upon  the  edge  of  the  bed,  deep  in  thought.  He 
arose,  disrobed,  and  as  he  turned  out  the  gas  mut- 
tered to  himself  : 

"  I  wonder  if  it  would  be  as  dangerous  to  culti- 
vate the  Mentons  in  New  York  as  it  was  in  Paris." 


CHAPTEK  II. 

AMID  RETORTS  AND  FURNACES. 

Little  Mrs.  Mittens  told  the  truth  when  she  said 
that  Mr.  Menton  was  "  a  strange  old  gentleman," 
and  she  might  have  added  that  Miss  Menton  was  a 
strange  young  lady.  Between  this  odd  pair  there 
existed  a  relation  that  was  utterly  devoid  of  the 
affection  natural  between  father  and  daughter. 
They  seemed  to  be  nothing  more  than  good  friends, 
who  understood  each  other's  idosyncrasies,  and  tole- 
rated them. 

The  old  man  spent  most  of  his  time  in  the  study. 
It  was  in  the  roof.  No  one  but  Menton  and  his 
daughter  had  ever  set  foot  within  the  threshold 
since  the  old  man  had  completed  the  arrangement 
of  his  retorts,  furnaces,  surgical  instruments,  chemi- 
cals, and  books.  The  servants  were  almost  afraid  to 
pass  the  door.  You  could  not  have  hired  the  cham- 
bermaid to  enter  this  terrible  apartment  —  indeed, 
the  strange  ways  of  the  Mentons,  with  the  added 
mystery  of  the  old  man's  laboratory,  made  it  almost 
impossible  for  them  to  keep  a  servant  longer  than  a 

22 


AMID   RETORTS   AND   FURNACES.  23 

month.  The  servants  liked  Miss  Menton  well 
enough,  for  she  permitted  them  to  do  about  as  they 
pleased,  and  seemed  to  be  an  ordinary  mortal  like 
themselves.  But  the  old  man  was  a  constant  source 
of  terror  to  them.  Even  their  lively  imaginations 
could  not  picture  the  inside  of  his  laboratory  suffi- 
ciently horrible.  They  were  confident  that  he  was 
in  league  with  the  devil;  and  the  cook,  who  had 
never  seen  him,  but  who  had  been  filled  with  fear 
and  wonder  by  the  tales  the  chambermaid  and 
dining-room  girl  had  told  her  touching  the  old 
man's  peculiarities  —  very  much  exaggerated,  of 
course,  and  colored  as  highly  as  the  imaginations 
of  these  simple  women  could  paint  them  —  would 
not  have  been  at  all  surprised  if  this  magician  in 
the  attic  should  take  it  into  his  head  to  transport 
the  house,  servants  and  all,  to  the  infernal  regions 
by  one  wave -of  the  wand  which  she  felt  assured  was 
always  convenient  to  his  hand.  Nothing  but  her 
laziness  kept  her  in  the  Menton  kitchen.  She  was 
opposed  to  early  rising;  and  the  Mentons  did  not 
breakfast  till  ten. 

There  was  one  thing  which  the  servants  did  not 
attempt  to  explain;  and  that  was,  what  Mr.  Menton 
did  with  so  many  dogs.  Nearly  every  week  a  fresh 
dog  was  coaxed  or  driven  into  the  old  gentleman's 


24  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

study.  Menton  would  go  out  for  a  walk  and  come 
back  with  a  dog.  When  once  the  door  of  the 
"study"  had  closed  upon  the  canine  the  night 
knew  his  howl  no  more.  Thus  old  Menton' s 
mystery  was  always  associated  with  dogs,  and  the 
cook  was  of  the  opinion  that  he  ate  them. 

Lucius  Menton  was  a  true  savant.  He  was  un- 
known to  the  world,  though  one  or  two  of  his 
friends  were  members  of  the  French  Academy;  but 
he  had  never  written  anything  for  the  scientific 
magazines,  and  knew  only  three  scientific  men  in 
New  York;  one,  a  doctor  whose  countenance  was  so 
evil  that  no  Christian  would  have  him  at  his  bed- 
side; the  second,  a  chemist  who  was  employed  by 
one  of  the  large  chemical  manufacturing  firms  of 
New  York;  and  the  third,  a  specialist  in  physiology 
— a  man  who  would  have  won  a  name  in  the  world 
had  he  not  made  the  mistake  of  experimenting  on 
himself  in  order  that  he  might  fully  appreciate  the 
condition  of  mental  exaltation  produced  by  opiates. 
This  man  eked  out  a  precarious  existence  by  assist- 
ing as  a  proof  reader  in  a  house  which  published 
medical  works. 

These  men  were  not  in  Menton' s  confidence.  O, 
No!  He  treated  them  with  consideration  because 
they  were  at  times  useful  to  him ;  but  not  one  of 


AMID  RETORTS  AND  FURNACES.         27 

them  had  ever  been  in  his  study,  and  he  was  always 
careful  that  they  should  not  find  the  slightest  indi- 
cation to  lead  them  to  the  secret  of  his  investiga- 
tions. He  had  an  income  which  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  live  in  ease  without  a  thought  of  to-mor- 
row or  time.  He  was  of  French  blood,  and,  as  a 
fitting  conclusion  to  the  dissipations  of  his  youth, 
had  married  a  French  ballet  dancer,  who  had  died 
five  years  after  giving  birth  to  a  beautiful  girl 
whom  Menton  had  always  regarded  very  much  as  he 
would  the  child  of  a  friend,  which  he  was  in  honor 
bound  to  rear.  He  had  named  her  Helene.  She 
had  traveled  all  over  the  world  with  him,  and  had 
grown  to  have  some  interest  in  her  father's  scien- 
tific studies,  though  she  spent  only  as  much  time  in 
his  company  as  pleased  her;  and  he  never  bothered 
himself  to  inquire  how  she  occupied  herself  when 
he  was  busy  with  his  books  and  experiments. 

In  fact  he  did  not  care.  He  believed  in  neither 
religion  nor  ethics,  and  though  not  coarse  in  his 
nature,  was  totally  devoid  of  moral  refinement. 
With  all  this,  he  was  kind  to  the  poor,  cultured,  and 
apparently  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  Such 
were  Lucius  Menton' s  surroundings  when  we  find 
him  devoting  the  ripe  strength  of  his  intellect  to 
the  investigation  of  a  theory  which,  if  proved, 


28  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

would  startle  the  physiological  world.  It  was  to 
this  end  that  he  was  continually  luring  stray  dogs 
to  his  laboratory,  where,  by  the  aid  of  vivisection, 
he  might  demonstrate  the  error  of  the  established 
theory  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  He  fondly 
hoped  to  some  day  burst  upon  the  scientific  world 
like  a  comet,  and  in  a  blaze  of  glory  show  the  old 
fogies  that  the  lungs,  not  the  heart,  are  the  organs 
which  pump  the  life  blood  through  the  arteries  of 
the  body. 

He  was  seated  at  his  desk,  writing  rapidly,  his 
eyes  aglow  with  enthusiasm  when  his  daughter  en- 
tered. Her  guests  had  departed.  She  had  come  at 
her  father's  request  —  and  with  a  purpose  of  her 
own. 

"I'm  nearing  the  end,"  said  the  old  man,  throw- 
ing down  his  pen,  and  clenching  his  fists  through 
nervous  excitement;  "my  theory  is  right  and  it 
will  be  accepted  —  it  must  be  accepted!" 

Miss  Menton  had  heard  this  before.  It  did  not 
elate  her ;  indeed,  if  she  had  fully  believed  her  father 
had  really  accomplished  his  great  undertaking  she 
was  not  in  a  mood  to  rejoice  with  him. 

"I  hope  so,"  she  said  indifferently,  and  then 
with  a  sudden  burst  of  feeling  which  seemed  to  in- 
tensify the  peculiar  redness  of  her  eyes,  and  in  a 


AMID  RETORTS  AND  FURNACES.         29 

voice  trembling  with  only  half  suppressed  passion, 
she  exclaimed: 

"I  have  found  him!" 

"Who?"  and  Menton  frowned.  He  did  not 
like  to  have  his  great  discovery  disposed  of  so  flip- 
pantly for  any  "he." 

"Denman!1' 

"Denman!"  repeated  the  old  man  in  surprise. 
"  Well,  what  do  you  propose  to  do  with  him  now 
that  you  have  found  him?"  he  continued  coolly 
after  a  pause.  He  picked  up  his  pen  and  turned  to 
his  writing 

Miss  Menton  was  silent.  The  quiet  of  the 
laboratory,  heavy  with  the  stale  fumes  of  acids  and 
gases,  was  broken  only  by  the  scratching  of  Men- 
ton's  pen,  and  the  rustle  of  the  silk  which  covered 
Miss  Menton' s  heaving  bosom.  The  fire  died  out 
of  her  eyes.  Her  lips  trembled.  She  looked 
vacantly  toward  the  window : 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  answered  hopelessly. 

"  Where  did  you  find  him  ?"  asked  the  old  man 
grimly. 

"  Here." 

"What,  in  New  York?" 

"  In  this  very  house,"  and  the  color  came  back 
to  Miss  Menton' s  cheeks,  and  her  eyes  blazed  again. 


30  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

"  He  did  not  seek  you?  " 

"  No.  "Wheeler  brought  him.  He  seemed 
frightened  when  he  stood  face  to  face  with  me. 
He  could  not  have  known  that  he  was  going  to 
meet  me.  And  I  was  startled,  too;  but  I  recov- 
ered myself  much  quicker  than  he  did." 

"  I  am  not  surprised  at  that,"  and  the  old  man 
gazed  upon  his  daughter  admiringly.  "  But  I 
suppose  you  will  forget  the  past,  and  let  him  go? 
It  will  save  trouble  and  annoyance." 

"Forget!"  The  woman  drew  up  her  superb 
figure  to  its  full  height.  She  looked  a  very 
Phsedre.  " Forget!  Never! "  she  hissed.  "  Can  I 
forget  that  it  was  he  who  robbed  me  of  the  man 
I  loved,  of  position,  wealth,  and  happiness  ?  Can  I 
forget  that  but  for  his  act  I  might  to-day  be  a 
Countess?  No!  No." 

"  But  what  do  you  purpose  to  do?"  asked  the 
old  man,  without  a  trace  of  sympathy  in  his  voice. 
His  daughter  did  not  answer.  After  a  moment  of 
thought  she  said  in  a  strained  voice: 

"If  he  is  as  anxious  to  make  love  to  me  as  he 
was  once,  I  may  give  him  an  opportunity." 

"What  then?" 

"  Wait  and  see."  With  a  nervous  laugh  Miss 
Menton  started  toward  the  door,  and  after  a  con- 


AMID  RETORTS  AND  FURNACES.         31 

ventional  and  meaningless  good  night,  she  left  the 
room.       The  old  man  was   alone  with  his  retorts 

and   bottles.     He   soliloquized :     "She'll  pay 

that  poor  devil  principal  and  interest  on  the  debt 
she  owes  him.  Of  course,  he  will  make  a  fool  of 
himself  over  her  if  she  gives  him  the  slightest 
encouragement  —  they  all  do.  Well,  if  she  can  take 
her  revenge  in  tliat  way,  it's  harmless  enough 
But  what  if  the  fellow  has  no  heart  to  break?  " 


CHAPTEK  III. 

BEAUTIFUL   HELENE    MENTON. 

Helene  Menton  was  more  beautiful  and  fascina- 
ting at  thirty  than  she  had  been  at  twenty.  She 
was  a  rare  woman  —  a  beautiful  animal,  and  clear 
and  sparkling  in  her  intellectuality.  It  is  doubtful 
if  she  could  have  become  a  truly  good  woman 
under  any  circumstances.  She  had  inherited  the 
passionate  nature  of  her  mother,  with  its  attendant 
lack  of  moral  balance,  together  with  the  selfish, 
indifferent  temperament  of  her  father;  and  these 
hereditary  traits  were  as  strongly  marked  as  is  the 
color  of  a  child  born  of  negro  parents.  Such  as 
she  was  nature  had  made  her.  She  had  no  desire 
to  be  better;  she  might  have  been  much  worse. 
She  was  tall,  sinuous,  and  yet  not  slender.  Her 
figure  contained  all  the  charms  which  plumpness 
gives,  with  the  dignity  and  grace  which  are  almost 
inseparable  from  slenderness.  There  was  a  magnet- 
ism in  her  presence  which  sent  a  thrill  through 
m.en  who  were  susceptible  to  physical  beauty.  Her 
eyes  —  which  had  exerted  so  strange  an  influence 

32 


BEAUTIFUL  HELENS   MENTON.  33 

• 
over  Henry  Wheeler,  despite  the  natural  aversion 

he  had  felt  for  the  woman  upon  meeting  her  for 
first  time  —  were  of  that  odd  combination  of  color 
which  to  the  student  of  faces  denotes  a  peculiarly 
passionate  nature  and  pronounced  will  power. 
Had  she  been  born  a  man,  and  become  a  soldier, 
she  would  have  moved  men  to  great  deeds  of  daring 
by  her  personality,  and  the  magnetism  of  her  eyes. 

Her  position  in  society  was-  equivocal.  In 
truth,  it  must  be  admitted  that  she  did  not  move  in 
what  is  called  society.  She  never  went  out  except 
to  the  play  and  the  opera,  and  the  only  people  she 
knew  in  New  York  were  those  who  came  to  her 
house.  And  a  queer  lot  they  were;  artists,  actors, 
Bohemian  writers,  one  or  two  retired  army  officers, 
and  a  few  women,  whose  only  accomplishments  were 
an  ability  to  talk  a  great  deal,  sing  a  little,  and 
dress  decently.  These  women  were  not  what  one 
would  call  comme  il  faut,  and  yet  one  could  not 
prove  that  the  lives  they  led  were  not  above 
reproach.  They  stood  upon  that  neutral  ground 
which  lies  between  admitted  virtue  and  pronounced 
wickedness.  Miss  Men  ton  was  head  and  shoulders 
above  this  collection  of  femininity,  intellectually— 
and  morally,  too. 

She  was  resigned  to  existence  as  she  found  it; 


34  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

never  craved  that  society  which  was  beyond  her — 
or  if  she  did  her  ambition  was  known  to  no  one  but 
herself — and  did  not  burden  her  mind  with  specu- 
lations upon  what  may  come  after  death. 

A  bad  woman  —  the  gentle  reader  will  say. 
Bad?  Yes;  but  is  she  responsible  for  it?  Her 
very  individuality  was  inherited.  She  can  not 
make  herself  better  than  she  is.  Her  surroundings 
would  forbid  that,  had  she  the  desire.  It  is  not 
pleasant  to  draw  the  picture  of  a  woman  who  has  all 
the  graces  of  body  and  mind,  and  yet  who  is  as 
empty  of  holy  womanly  sentiment  as  a  statue  is  of 
feeling.  But  the  duty  of  the  writer  is  to  show  you 
the  people  in  this  strange  episode  of  the  nineteenth 
century  as  they  really  existed.  It  would  be  a  more 
pleasing  task  to  give  virtues  to  all  of  them,  and 
warm,  open  natures;  but  it  would  not  be  a  true 
picture.  If  you  can  find  anything  in  Miss  Menton 
to  admire,  cherish  it.  If  you  can  not,  at  least 
remember  that  she  is  the  child  of  Lucius  Menton, 
and  a  French  ballet  dancer;  and  be  charitable. 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

IT   WAS   HARDLY   MURDER. 

Denman  became  a  constant  visitor  at  the  Men- 
tons.  He  was  there  almost  nightly,  and  by  the 
good  natured  people  who  gathered  there  was  voted 
the  wittiest  and  cleverest  of  Miss  Menton's  guests. 

Wheeler  viewed  Denman's  popularity  and  the 
advancement  he  seemed  to  be  making  in  Miss  Men- 
ton's  good  graces  with  displeasure.  He  grew  mor- 
bid and  restless.  Once  or  twice  he  resolved  to 
remain  away  from  the  Meriton  house  and  the 
unhealthful  atmosphere  which  permeated  it,  and 
devote  himself  to  honest  work  with  brush  and  pen. 
But  these  resolutions  were  np  sooner  made  than 
broken.  He  felt  miserable  in  that  atmosphere;  but 
he  was  in  despair  when  out  of  it,  especially  when 
his  imagination  pictured  Denman  and  Miss  Menton 
chatting  gaily  together. 

The  peculiarity  of  Wheeler's  passion  was  that  it 
probably  would  never  have  assumed  serious  propor- 
tions if  Paul  Denman  had  not  come  upon  the  scene, 
and,  by  the  mystery  of  his  former  acquaintance  with 


36  WAS   IT   A   CRIME: 

Miss  Menton,  aroused  his  jealousy,  which  in  turn 
had  increased  his  infatuation. 

He  did  as  other  impressionable  men  had  done 
before  him:  refused  to  listen  to  reason  and  rushed 
headlong  into  a  sea  of  misery  with  his  eyes  open. 
Denman  was  not.  long  in  discovering  his  friend's 
unhappy  condition.  He  liked  Wheeler,  and  with  a 
seriousness  unusual  with  him,  he  asked: 

"Tell  me  frankly:  do  you  really  care  for  that 
woman?" 

Wheeler's  face  flushed,  and  he  asked  hotly: 
"  By  what  right  do  you  speak  of  Miss  Menton  as 
'that  woman?'" 

"  Well,  call  her  Miss  Menton,  if  you  please.  But 
I  see  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  my  question ; 
you  evidently  care  a  great  deal  for  her.  I'm  sorry 
for  you,  my  friend." 

"I  don't  want  your  sympathy,"  said  Wheeler, 
sulkily;  "you  seem  to  be  as  much  in  need  of  condo- 
lence as  I." 

Paul  Denman  laughed.  "  Not  at  all,  my  dear 
fellow,"  he  said.  "  There  is  not  the  slightest  dan- 
ger of  my  heart  ever  becoming  entangled  there." 

This  satisfied  Wheeler  for  a  moment.  Then  he 
asked:  "If  you  dislike  her  so  much  why  do  you 
spend  so  much  of  your  time  at  her  house?  " 


IT   WAS   &AHDLY   MURDEB.  87 

-*  She  is  very  pretty,"  replied  Denman,  twisting 
his  moustache;  "and  one  can't  meet  pretty  women 
every  day,  and  clever  ones  at  that." 

To  hear  Miss  Menton  discussed  in  this  insolent 
manner  was  unbearable.  "You  are  trifling  with 
her  then,"  exclaimed  Wheeler.  At  that  moment  he 
would  have  laid  down  his  life  to  defend  the  woman 
whom  he  did  not  even  thoroughly  respect. 

Denman  looked  at  him  in  genuine-  surprise. 
"  Wheeler,"  said  he,  "  you  really  seem  to  have  some 
faith  in  Miss  Menton.  You  don't  know  her.  She 
is  not  worthy  of  your  confidence — certainly  not  of 
your  love." 

Wheeler  rose  and  paced  nervously  up  and  down 
the  room.  Denman  watched  him  with  much  con- 
cern. He  honestly  pitied  him.  Suddenly  Wheeler 
stopped  in  front  of  Denman' s  chair.  His  face  was 
very  white. 

"  Denman,"  he  said,  his  voice  tremulous  with  the 
intensity  of  his  feelings,  "  we  are  friends.  Friend- 
ship has  its  obligations.  I  beg  of  you  to  tell  me 
what  you  know  of  Miss  Menton.  Why  is  she 
not  worthy  of  my  confidence?  Why  is  she  not 
worthy  of  the  love  of  any  man?  Explain  to  me 
the  mystery  that  lies  between  you.  How  came  you 


38  WAS   IT  A   CRIME? 

to  know  her  in  Paris  ?     Tell  me  all.     I  have  a  right 
to  know." 

"I  would  rather  not,"  answered  Denman, 
gravely. 

"But  you  said  you  would,  and  I  hold  you  to 
your  promise." 

"You  are  mistaken,  Wheeler;  I  did  not  promise, 
for  I  never  intended  to  tell  you.  I  merely  said  that 
perhaps  I  would  tell  you.  However,  you  shall  hear 
the  story.  I  have  never  told  it  to  anyone  else,  and 
I  now  tell  it  to  you  in  the  confidence  of  friendship. 
The  secret  which  you  so  desire  to  know  concerns 
me  more  closely  than  it  does  Miss  Menton.  I 
killed  her  lover." 

"Murdered  him!"  exclaimed  Wheeler,  starting 
to  his  feet  in  horror. 

"Hear  me  out,"  said  Denman,  motioning  with 
his  hand  for  Wheeler  to  resume  his  seat.  "I 
killed  him  in  a  duel.  It  was  his  life  or  mine.  It 
would  have  been  mine  but  for  an  accident.  The 
circumstances  which  led  up  to  the  duel  were  these: 
Five  years  ago  I  was  in  Paris.  You  have  never 
been  in  Paris.  Multiply  the  wickedness  of  New 
York  by  ten,  and  you  will  only  approximate  the 
gilded  degeneracy  of  the  French  capital.  Being 
young,  rich,  and  with  a  desire  to  leave  no  pleasure 


IT   WAS   HAKDLY   MUEDER.  89 

untasted,  I  plunged  into  dissipations  of  every 
description.  The  Mentons  lived  in  Paris  very 
much  as  they  live  here.  It  was  not  difficult  to  get 
into  their  house.  I  was  taken  to  it  by  a  friend,  just 
as  you  took  me  to  see  Miss  Menton  here  in  New 
York.  I  saw  men  playing  cards;  there  was  a  gene- 
ral air  of  looseness  about  the  place — at  least  it 
seemed  so  to  me.  I  took  it  for  granted  that  it  was 
a  gaming  place,  and  I  had  not  a  doubt  but  that  the 
beautiful  woman  who  presided  over  it  was  the  decoy 
that  led  men  to  their  ruin.  To  me,  an  American, 
the  presumption  was  natural  that  this  woman  was 
like  hundreds  of  others  in  Paris.  I  was  wrong  in 
my  first  supposition.  Her  house  was  not  a  gam- 
bling den;  and  perhaps  she  was  not  so  bad  a 
woman  as  I  believed.  But  I  did  not  discover  my 
error  until  too  late.  Heated  with  wine,  upon  taking 
my  departure,  I  said  something  to  Miss  Menton 
which  she  construed  as  an  insult.  You  should  have 
seen  her  eyes  flash!  Nothing  daunted,  I  returned 
the  next  evening.  I  was  refused  admittance;  that 
is  to  say,  in  polite  terms,  '  Miss  Menton  was  not  at 
home.'  This  angered  me.  To  be  kicked  out  of 
such  a  place  made  me  frantic.  I  felt  sure  that  I 
was  not  culpable.  I  did  not  believe  that  any  pure 
woman  could  lead  the  life  that  woman  led.  By  that 


13 


40  WAS   IT   A   CBIME? 

reasoning  I  excused  my  action,   and  I  hated   her 
heartily. 

"  Three  nights  later  I  entered  a  cafe".  Not  ten 
feet  from  the  table  at  which  I  had  taken  a  seat,  sat 
Miss  Meuton  and  a  fine  looking  fellow — a  German 
Count,  as  I  afterward  learned.  Still  smarting  under 
the  humiliation  she  had  put  upon  me,  I  boldly  and 
insultingly  stared  and  sneered  at  the  woman.  Her 
companion  could  not  but  observe  it.  He  crossed  to 
where  I  sat  and  demanded  an  explanation  and  an 
apology.  I  laughed  in  his  face.  He  slapped  me 
with  his  open  hand.  I  retaliated  in  a  very  un- 
Parisian  way  by  knocking  him  down.  Upon  regain- 
ing his  feet  he  handed  me  his  card,  and  demanded 
mine.  I  gave  it  to  him.  As  I  expected,  on  the 
following  day  I  received  a  challenge.  You  may  be 
surprised,  but  the  prospect  of  a  duel  delighted  me. 
It  had  been  the  ambition  of  my  silly  youth  to  fight 
one,  and  one  of  the  first  things  I  did  on  arriving  in 
Paris  was  to  secure  a  fencing  master — you  remember 
how  much  I  liked  fencing  at  college?  Well,  under 
this  Frenchman's  training  I  became,  as  I  thought, 
very  proficient.  The  Count's  challenge  gave  me 
the  very  opportunity  I  had  been  longing  for.  I 
accepted  it,  and  much  to  his  surprise,  chose  rapiers. 
He  had  supposed  that  being  an  American  I  would, 


IT   WAS    HARDLY    MURDER.  41 

of  course,  choose  pistols — they  have  an  idea  over 
there  that  every  American  carries  a  revolver  and 
uses  it  on  the  slightest  provocation. 

"  We  fought  in  Belgium.  I  very  soon  made  two 
discoveries:  first,  that  fighting  a  duel  with  naked 
swords  was  quite  a  different  thing  from  a  combat 
with  foils,  with  the  face  protected  by  a  mask;  and 
second,  that  the  Count  was  more  than  my  match. 
Twice  he  lunged  at  me  so  wickedly  that  it  was  with 
the  greatsst  difficulty  I  parried  his  thrust.  I  acted 
entirely  on  the  defensive.  After  we  had  been  on 
guard  for,  say  three  minutes,  he  began  to  act  as  if 
he  intended  to  finish  me  at  once.  He  advanced 
cautiously.  I  retreated  as  well  as  I  could,  but  he 
continued  to  approach,  disengaging  his  sword  by 
quick  feints.  It  unnerved  me.  I  thought  my  time 
had  come.  In  sheer  terror  I  ducked  my  head  and 
involuntarily  extended  my  sword  arm.  It  saved  my 
life;  for  it  so  happened  that  at  that  very  instant  the 
Count  was  preparing  to  lunge.  His  blade  passed 
harmlessly  over  my  shoulder;  mine  penetrated  his 
heart — ran  clear  through  him.  He  gasped,  threw 
up  his  arms,  and  fell  dead.  I  returned  to  Paris, 
took  the  first  train  for  London,  and  two  days  later 
was  steaming  toward  India.  I  have  not  been  in 
Paris  since," 


42  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

During  the  recital  of  this  story,  Wheeler  had  not 
once  removed  his  eyes  from  the  man  who  had  so 
coolly  and  graphically  detailed  the  killing  of  another. 

"I  am  glad  you  told  me,"  he  said  in  a  con- 
strained voice.  "  I  can  not  say  that  I  blame  you. 
It  was  hardly  murder.  But  do  you  think  this 
Count  was  Miss  Menton's  lover  —  I  mean  in  the 
French  significance?" 

"You  know  as  much  about  that  as  I  do,"  re- 
turned Deiiman,  recovering  his  old  free-and-easy 
manner.  "For  my  part,  I  mean  to  find  out.  To 
that  end  I  am  a  visitor  at  her  house.  If  he  was, 
why  should  not  I,  the  victor  take  his  place  ?  " 

Wheeler  recoiled.  "  This  is  horrible,"  he  said. 
"  I  should  think  you  would  shun  rather  than  seek 
her.  I  believe,"  continued  Wheeler,  with  conviction, 
"  that  your  opinion  of  the  woman  is  wrong,  and  that 
you  will  be  sorry  if  you  try  to  prove  that  it  is  right." 

"What!  Haven't  I  cured  you?"  exclaimed 
Denman. 

"No;  you  admit  yourself  that  you  do  not  "know; 
that  you  only  surmise." 

"Let's  drop  the  subject,"  said  Denman.  "No 
good  can  come  of  a  further  discussion  of  it." 

They  did  not  speak  of  Miss  Menton  again  until 
three  weeks  later. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

"WHY   NOT   MORE    THAN   FRIENDS?" 

Wheeler  found  Miss  Menton  alone  when  he 
called  a  few  nights  after  he  had  become  possessed 
of  Denman's  secret.  He  looked  into  her  eyes  with 
a  new  interest  in  their  beautiful  possessor.  "A 
good  opportunity  to  study  her,"  he  thought  as  he 
took  the  hand  which  she  charmingly  extended  as  he 
entered. 

"It's  not  often  I  have  the  pleasure  of  a  quiet 
conversation  with  you,  now,"  he  said. 

"Is  it  really  a  pleasure?"  she  asked,  gently. 

"  A  very  great  one,"  Wheeler  replied. 

"Then  you  must  come  often  in  the  afternoon, 
when  .1  am  always  alone»  You  may  be  sure  the 
pleasure  of  our  talks  will  be  mutual.  But  where  is 
Mr.  Denman  to-night?" 

Wheeler's  spirits  sank.  "  Oh,  he'll  drop  in  later, 
I  suppose,"  he  replied,  indifferently.  But  he  could 
not  entirely  conceal  his  annoyance.  "  Why  does 
she  think  of  him,  after  what  has  happened?"  he 
asked  himself.  "  Can  it  be  that  Denman's  opinion 

43 


44  WAS    IT    A    CRIME? 

of  her  is  right  ? "  The  thought  was  misery.  He 
sat  silent  and  morose.  The  change  in  his  expres- 
sion and  manner  did  not  escape  Miss  Menton.  That 
it  conveyed  an  intelligence  was  evident  from  the 
softer  light  that  came  into  her  eyes. 

"Let  us  not  talk  about  him,"  she  purred  insin- 
uatingly. "I  want  to  tell  you  of  a  conversation  I 
had  with  Professor  Eyse  —  you  know  the  professor, 
the  old  gentleman  who  knows  so  much  about  physi- 
ology and  who  comes  here  to  talk  with  papa  some- 
times? Of  course  you  do.  Well,  just  before  you 
came,  he  was  telling  me  of  some  very  wonderful 
things  that  have  been  done  recently  by  the  French 
psychologists,  who  have  been  investigating  hyp- 
notism. Do  you  believe  in  it  ?" 

"Most  assuredly,"  said  Wheeler,  happy  once 
more. 

"What  do  you  think  it  is;  magnetism  or  some- 
thing of  that  sort?" 

"No;  not  exactly,  though  something  like  the 
hypnotic  condition  may  be  produced  by  magnetism. 
To  tell  the  truth,  I  don't  know  much  about  it  —  only 
enough  to  believe  in  it." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Miss  Menton,  with  a  per- 
ceptible shudder,  "  that  there  must  be  something 
supernatural  about  it" 


WHY  NOT  MORE  THAN  FRIENDS?        47 

"Don't  you  believe  her;  she  knows  better,"  said 
a  voice. 

They  looked  up.  There  stood  old  Mr.  Menton. 
He  laughed.  "  Don't  let  me  interrupt  your  learned 
conversation,"  said  he;  "I'm  merely  looking  for 
the  daily  paper s." 

He  found  them  on  the  floor,  near  where  his 
daughter  was  sitting.  As  he  started  to  leave  the 
room  he  turned  to  Wheeler  and  said  jocosely: 
"  Don't  let  my  daughter  deceive  you.  She  is  not  so 
silly  as  to  believe  in  the  supernatural  in  anything. 
She  would  not  be  my  daughter  if  she  were." 

Wheeler  smiled,  for  want  of  something  better  to 
do.  Miss  Menton  followed  her  father  with  her  eyes 
as  he  went  out  of  the  door.  It  was  not  an  affection- 
ate glance  that  she  gave  him. 

At  this  moment  Col.  McPhister  and  Mr.  Mon- 
tague were  announced.  The  former  came  in  briskly ; 
the  latter  strode  in  as  if  he  were  making  the  fifth 
entrance  in  the  r6le  of  Hamlet. 

"We  were  talking  about  hypnotism,"  said 
Wheeler,  who  had  a  real  interest  in  the  subject. 
"What  do  you  know  about  it,  Colonel?  We  are 
sadly  in  need  of  enlightenment." 

"Never  heard  of  it,"  grunted  the  old  warrior, 


48  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

gallantly  lifting  the  hand  of  the  fair  hostess  to  his 
lips. 

"A  most  entertaining  subject,"  said  Montague 
with  a  superior  air;  "one  which  appeals  to  all  con- 
templative minds,  and  one  to  which  I  have  given 
much  thought." 

"  If  that's  the  case,  I  suppose  you've  exhausted 
it,"  barked  the  Colonel,  with  rasping  sarcasm;  "but 
what's  it  like,  anyway?" 

Mr.  Montague  did  not  deign  to  reply.  He  even 
turned  his  back  upon  the  grumpy  Colonel. 

"It's  something  like  mesmerism,"  volunteered 
"Wheeler. 

"  Then  it's  a  damned  humbug — if  you'll  excuse 
my  emphasis,"  replied  the  Colonel,  promptly. 

Miss  Menton  smiled.  His  "emphasis"  was  par- 
doned. He  knew  it  would  be.  He  had  often 
offended  in  the  same  way,  and  had  been  forgiven 
every  time. 

"Yes,"  the  old  fellow  continued,  "I've  seen  a 
good  deal  of  that  kind  of  humbug.  It's  a  good 
enough  thing  to  write  about,  and  it  may  interest 
scientific  men  to  fool  away  their  time  over  it,  but  a 
man's  a  fool  to  believe  in  it,  all  the  same.  It's  like 
the  mind  cure  —  something  for  women  to  talk  about 


WHY  NOT  MORE  THAN  FRIENDS?       49 

—  good  enough  for  infants  and  idiots,  but  nonsense 
for  level-headed  men." 

"  The  mind  cure,  as  you  vulgarly  call  it,"  said 
Mr.  Montague,  interjecting  himself  into  the  conver- 
sation with  mild  dignity,  "is  one  of  the  trans- 
cendental discoveries  of  our  time.  It  proves  that 
thought  is;  that  matter  is  not." 

"  The  devil  it  does,"  said  the  Colonel,  contempt- 
uously. 

Mr.  Montague  was  above  noticing  the  interrup- 
tion. "  You  are  a  metaphysician,  are  you  not,  Miss 
Mentoii?"  he  continued. 

"I'm  afraid  my  knowledge  of  metaphysics  is  not 
great  enough  to  entitle  me  to  that  distinction," 
smiled  Miss  Menton. 

"  Beg  pardon,  but  you  do  not  understand  me," 
explained  Montague  with  a  kindly  patronizing  air 
that  was  so  ridiculous  that  Wheeler  almost  laughed 
aloud;  "  I  meant  to  ask  if  you  had  not  studied  the 
science  of  curing  what  is  commonly  called  disease 
by  the  influence  of  the  mind?" 

"  And  do  you  call  that  metaphysics  ?  "  broke  in 
the  Colonel,  impatiently.  "  How  long  does  it  take 
to  learn  it?" 

"  I  mastered  it  in  two  weeks,"  said  Mr.  Mon- 
tague, with  considerable  emphasis ;  "  but,  of 


50  WAS   I?    A.   CRIME? 

course,"  he  added,  "  I  had  no  part  to  play  in  that 
time." 

"  Except  the  part  of  a  fool,"  said  McPhister, 
sotto  voce.  He  went  on  in  a  loud,  aggressive  voice, 
as  if  his  intelligence  had  been  outraged:  "  Two 
weeks,  do  you  say?  And  you  call  yourself  a  meta- 
physician !  Why,  my  dear  sir,  it  may  surprise  you, 
but  there  are  men  —  men  of  brains,  too  —  who  have 
studied  metaphysics  for  a  lifetime  who  dare  not 
call  themselves  metaphysicians.  Metaphysicians 
made  in  two  weeks!  Bosh!  I  am  pained  to  tell 
you,  sir,  that  your  philosophy  is  even  worse  than 
your  acting  —  a  damned  sight  worse,  sir,"  and  the 
Colonel  sat  down  very  hard  in  a  very  soft  chair. 
The  old  fellow  was  disgusted,  and  he  did  not  con- 
ceal it.  But  if  he  thought  he  could  hart  Mr.  Mon- 
tague's feelings  he  was  mistaken.  That  aesthetic 
representative  of  the  art  histrionic  had  only  pity  for 
the  vulgar  materialism  of  his  military  friend.  He 
made  no  reply. 

Wheeler  had  been  very  much  amused  by  the 
passage  at  words  between  McPhister  and  Montague. 
He  admired  the  old  soldier  for  his  blunt  nature  as 
much  as  he  disliked  Montague  for  his  weak-minded 
pretentiousness.  Turning  to  Miss  Menton,  he 
said,  pleasantly: 


WHY  NOT  MOEE  THAN  FRIENDS?       51 

"  If  our  belligerent  friends  will  permit  me,  we'll 
resume  our  instructive  conversation  on  hypnotism. 
So  you  really  believe  there  is  something  supernat- 
ural about  it?" 

"  Papa  has  given  me  a  reputation  for  such  pro- 
nounced materialism  that  you  would  not  believe  me 
if  I  were  to  say  yes,"  replied  Miss  Menton,  elevat- 
ing her  brows. 

The  Colonel  was  already  dozing;  Montague  was 
at  the  other  end  of  the  room  making  himself  believe 
he  was  criticizing  an  etching. 

"I  would  believe  anything  you  might  say." 
Wheeler  said  this  in  a  low  voice  —  almost  a  whisper ; 
so  low  that  only  the  ears  for  which  it  was  intended 
heard  it. 

Miss  Menton  gave  him  a  glance  that  made  his 
blood  tingle.  McPhister  was  soon  sound  asleep,  and 
Montague,  having  sense  enough  to  see  that  he  was 
de  trop,  took  his  departure.  It  was  the  shortest 
call  he  had  ever  made  at  the  Menton  house,  When 
they  were  alone,  save  for  the  sleeping  presence  of 
the  Colonel,  Miss  Menton  placed  her  hand  confid- 
ingly on  Wheeler's  arm  and  said: 

"  Do  not  think  me  bold,  Mr.  Wheeler,  but  I  feel 
drawn  toward  you;  we  shall  always  be  friends,  shall 
we  not?" 


52  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

"Why  not  more  than  friends?"  lie  asked, 
eagerly,  taking  her  hand  and  holding  it  in  both  of 
his,  as  he  looked  tenderly  into  her  eyes. 

Miss  Menton  sighed.  "  That  .can  never  be,"  she 
said,  with  a  sad  smile;  "besides,  I  could  not  make 
you  happy0  But  we  may  always  be  friends.  I  need 
friends,  Mr.  Wheeler." 

The  voice  was  so  soft,  so  sweet,  that  Wheeler 
would  have  sworn  its  possessor  was  as  good  a 
woman  at  heart  as  ever  breathed.  He  was  about 
to  say  something  foolish  when  Miss  Menton  said, 
prettily : 

"I  move  the  previous  question;  let's  go  back  to 
hypnotism." 

"Anything  you  like,"  said  Wheeler.  "Hypno- 
tize me,  if  you  want  to ;  you  already  have  me  under 
a  spell." 

Miss  Menton  rose  suddenly  and  walked  over  to 
the  mantel.  She  trembled  violently.  Could 
Wheeler  have  seen  the  expression  on  her  face  he 
would  have  been  startled  by  its  awfulness.  It  was 
that  of  a  person  who  has  conceived  an  idea  that 
frightens  even  the  mind  which  has  created  it.  But 
when  Miss  Menton  returned  to  her  seat  her  face  was 
calm,  and  only  *ne  strange  light  that  burned  in  her 


WHY  NOT  MORE  THAN  FRIENDS?        58 

eyes  indicated  her  mental  excitement;  and  Wheeler 
did  not  notice  this. 

"I  believe  I  could  hypnotize  you,"  said  Miss 
Menton,  slowly;  "for  it  seems  to  me  that  sympa- 
thetic natures  have  power  over  one  another." 

Wheeler  was  at  the  point  of  putting  her  hand  to 
his  lips  to  prove  that  the  sympathy  to  which  she 
referred  existed,  when  McPhister  awoke  with  a 
snort  and  asked  Wheeler  to  go  to  lunch  with  him. 
The  artist  was  not  hungry,  and  he  would  have 
declined  the  Colonel's  invitation  had  not  Miss  Men- 
ton  risen  from  her  chair,  prepared  to  bid  them  good 
night,  thus  indicating  that  she  was  not  averse  to 
bringing  the  conversation  to  an  end. 

Wheeler  left  the  house  in  company  with  the  Col- 
onel in  a  feverish  daze.  He  was  not  sure  whether 
he  was  satisfied  or  not  with  the  result  of  his  visit. 

When  they  had  gone  Miss  Menton  began  to  pace 
nervously  up  and  down  the  room.  Her  face  was  a 
study — a  combination  of  fear,  doubt  and  determina- 
tion. She  stopped  short  in  her  walk.  "I'll  try  it, 
anyway,"  she  said.  She  turned  out  the  lights.  A 
moment  later  she  was  alone  in  her  chamber. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

IT   WAS   A   SWELL   NIGHT   AT   THE   MENTONS. 

Wheeler  got  on  famously  with  Miss  Menton  after 
their  psychological  interview.  He  thought  he  dis- 
covered new  qualities  in  her  every  day.  She 
seemed  more  thoughtful.  In  her  society  he  found 
peace  and  contentment,  and  he  was  quite  satisfied  to 
let  matters  run  as  they  would.  He  was  not  in  love 
with  her ;  but  the  sentiment  he  entertained  was  very 
much  like  love. 

Denman  still  remained  his  guest.  They  had 
pleasant  chats  at  night  before  retiring,  and  Den- 
man's  friendship  for  Wheeler  increased.  The  two 
weeks  prior  to  the  night  at  the  Menton  house,  which 
will  be  described  presently,  were  the  most  peaceful 
that  Wheeler  had  enjoyed  for  years,  and  Denman 
seemed  to  have  been  refined  by  his  association  with 
the  artist.  Apparently  he  had  abandoned  his  cam- 
paign on  Miss  Menton' s  affections  —  much  to 
Wheeler's  relief.  All  the  good  in  the  man  seemed 
to  have  suddenly  come  to  the  surface.  His  conver- 
sation was  not  so  coarse  and  flippant  as  it  had  been, 

54 


IT   WAS   A   SWELL   NIGHT   AT    THE    MENTONS.       55 

and  he  was  less  cynical  in  his  criticisms  of  persons 
and  things.  He  once  actually  considered  the  advis- 
ability of  opening  an  office  and  beginning  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  Wheeler  had  laughed  at  him.  "  You 
will  not  do  that  until  the  banks  return  your  checks 
unpaid,"  he  said,  and  Denman  had  laughingly 
admitted  that  his  friend  was  about  right. 

It  was  a  swell  night  at  the  Mentons.  The  par- 
lors had  not  contained  so  many  guests  for  a  year. 
It  was  an  informal  gathering;  and  its  size  was  due 
to  the  coincidence  of  a  great  many  of  Miss  Menton' s 
acquaintances  having  taken  it  into  their  heads  at 
the  same  time  to  pay  her  a  visit.  Professor  Ryse 
was  there,  with  his  friend  Dr.  Grip — who  looked 
like  a  caricature;  Mr.  Landis,  the  chemist;  Mrs. 
Mittens  (her  first  appearance  since  the  sudden  con- 
gealing Miss  Menton  had  given  her  some  weeks 
before) ;  Mr.  Montague  and  a  friend  who  could  act, 
but  who  could  not  do  anything  else,  and  who  could 
do  that  only  under  the  stage  manager's  coaching; 
Col.  McPhister;  Judge  Blackwood,  a  sedate  looking 
man,  who,  through  the  invitation  of  McPhister  that 
night  made  his  first  appearance  in  the  Menton 
circle,  and  half  a  dozen  other  men  and  women  who 
cut  no  greater  figure  in  this  strange  episode  than 
they  did  in  Miss  Men  ton's  reception  that  night;  they 


§6  WAS   IT  A   CHIME? 

were  useful  simply  as  a  background.  Wheeler  and 
Denman  dropped  in  about  nine  o'clock.  They  were 
both  in  high  spirits.  The  conversation  had  drifted 
through  one  channel  into  another,  and  out  again 
into  vagueness,  until  finally  it  ran  against  the 
theme  in  which  the  greatest  number  of  those  present 
seemed  to  be  most  interested.  It  was  psychology. 

Professor  Eyse  introduced  it  by  referring  casu- 
ally to  the  wonderful  feat  in  mind  reading  which  a 
young  man  had  accomplished  in  Boston. 

"  This  young  man,"  continued  the  Professor  with 
the  air  of  a  man  who  speaks  ex  cathedra,  "  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  a  small  scarf  pin  which  had  been 
concealed  in  a  fireplace  in  a  house  nearly  a  mile 
distant  from  the  room  in  which  he  sat,  blindfolded, 
and  in  the  presence  of  a  committee.  The  person 
who  concealed  the  pin  was  also  a  member  of  the 
committee.  The  mind  reader  was  placed  in  a  car- 
riage. The  committee  man,  who  had  hidden  the  pin 
took  a  seat  beside  him.  The  reins  were  placed  in 
the  mind  reader's  hands.  There  was  a  constant 
contact  between  the  hands  of  the  mind  reader  and 
the  person  who  concealed  the  pin.  After  some  hesi- 
tation the  mind  reader  drove  straight  to  the  house 
where  the  pin  was  hidden  and  found  it  without 
difficulty." 


IT    WAS   A    SWELL   NIGHT   AT   THE   MENTONS.       57 

"  He  must  have  had  a  confederate,"  remarked 
Judge  Blackwood. 

"  No,"  replied  the  Professor,  "  I  am  quite  sure 
the  test  was  honest.  Several  members  of  the  com- 
mittee occupied  seats  in  the  carriage  with  him. 
There  was  no  opportunity  for  deception." 

"  Do  you  not  think  it  can  be  explained  by  muscle 
reading,  and  more  reasonably  than  by  mind  read- 
ing?" ventured  Mr.  Landis.  "There  are  a  number 
of  scientific  men  in  Boston  who  investigated  the 
matter  and  convinced  themselves  that  it  was  really 
muscle  reading.  It  seems  to  me  quite  natural  that 
the  person  who  hid  the  pin,  and  kept  its  location 
constantly  in  his  mind,  should  have  unconsciously 
directed  the  young  man  to  the  object  by  muscular 
pressure  on  his  hand,  or  by  some  other  indication 
of  that  nature.  The  sympathy  between  the  mind 
and  the  muscles  is  strong,  you  know." 

"  I  do  not  put  any  faith  in  that  theory,"  said  the 
Professor.  "  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  the 
truth  of  what  is  called  mind  reading.  Tests  have 
been  made  by  the  use  of  the  galvanometer.  The 
mind  reader  has  held  one  end  of  a  wire,  the  subject 
the  other.  When  the  galvanometer  was  applied  to 
the  wire  there  was  a  perceptible  deflection  of  the 
needle.  To  me  this  proves  what  I  have  always 


58  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

maintained  in  theory,  that  thought  is  what  one 
might  call,  an  electric  essence.  But  I  see  no  reason 
why  one  should  question  the  genuineness  of  mind- 
reading,  when  more  wonderful  psychological  phe- 
nomena thrust  themselves  under  our  eyes  every 
day.  The  experiments  which  the  French  scientists 
have  made  in  hypotism — and  successful  experiments, 
too  —  indicate  that  we  are  as  yet  infants  in  our  un- 
derstanding of  the  subtle  qualities  of  the  mind  and 
its  power."  The  Professor  was  eloquent.  It  was 
his  favorite  theme. 

"Is  this  hypnotic  power  a  special  natural  gift, 
or  can  it  be  acquired?"  asked  the  Judge,  who  had 
become  interested  in  the  subject. 

"  Any  one  can  acquire  it,  though  there  are  still 
quacks  who  profess  that  it  is  possessed  by  but 
few  persons.  I  was  discussing  this  question  at 
some  length  with  Miss  Menton  on  my  last  visit," 
continued  the  Professor,  "  and  was  describing  to 
her  a  remarkable  case  which  has  just  been  reported 
from ." 

"  Yes,"  interrupted  Miss  Menton  hastily,  but  not 
rudely;  "the  Professor  told  me  all  about  this  won- 
derful power,  and  how  easily  it  can  be  acquired.  I 
feel  that  I  could  exercise  it  myself  with  a  little 


IT    WAS    A    SWELL    NIGHT    AT    THE    MENTONS.       59 

practice,"  and  Miss  Menton  laughed  lightly  as  she 
tapped  her  fingers  with  her  closed  fan. 

"I  haven't  the  slightest  doubt  of  it,"  said  the 
Professor.  "  The  only  requisite  would  be  a  willing 
subject  and  the  proper  conditions.  There  is  noth- 
ing mysterious  about  the  power,  and  the  sooner  the 
charlatans  are  exposed  the  better.  Miss  Menton 
could  produce  the  hypnotic  sleep  as  readily  as  any 
one  could." 

"  Let's  have  an  experiment,"  said  the  Judge, 
who  believed  in  improving  opportunities  as  fast  as 
they  presented  themselves,  when  they  promised  in- 
struction. 

"  Wouldn't  that  be  nice,"  chimed  in  Mrs.  Mit- 
tens; "  it  reminds  me  of  the  time  my  sister  and  I 
sat  down  at  a  table  at  Madame  La  Grange's  and 
tried  to  get  the  spirits  to  move  it." 

Professor  Eyse  looked  at  the  faded  little  widow 
with  benignant  pity. 

"Won't  you  try  the  experiment?"  urged  the 
Judge,  turning  to  the  Professor. 

"I  beg  you'll  excuse  me,"  Eyse  answered.  "It 
will  be  more  amusing  to  let  some  of  the  young  peo- 
ple try  it.  The  result  will  be  the  same,  I  think" 

"  I'm  willing  to  try  my  power,"  said  Miss  Men- 
ton.  Her  face  was  flushed  with  excitement,  and  her 


60  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

eyes  blazed  with  a  light  that  was  peculiarly  intense. 
"Who  will  be  my  subject?" 

"  I  will,"  said  Denman  promptly.  He  had  no 
faith  in  Miss  Men  ton's  ability  to  mesmerize  him, 
but  he  was  quite  ready  to  undergo  the  pleasure  of 
the  experiment. 

"  So  will  I,  Miss  Menton,"  said  Wheeler,  rising 
and  crossing  to  where  Miss  Menton  stood;  "  and  my 
claim  is  the  prior  one.  Don't  you  remember  I 
offered  myself  as  a  subject  once  before?" 

Miss  Menton  remembered  it  only  too  well ;  but 
she  only  said:  "Did  you?  Well,  then  you  shall 
be  my  subject.  '  First  come,  first  served,'  you 
know,"  she  added  with  benignity  to  Denman. 
"Your  turn  will  come,"  and  she  laughed  almost 
hysterically. 

Denman  good-naturedly  withdrew  in  favor  of 
Wheeler,  and  as  Miss  Menton  made  preparations 
for  the  test,  Montague  remarked  to  McPhister, 
"  What  a  gay  mood  Miss  Menton  is  in  to-night.  I 
have  not  seen  her  so  lively  for  a  long  time,"  and  the 
Colonel  nodded. 

The  fair  hostess  placed  a  chair  in  the  middle  of 
the  room,  and  at  her  direction  Wheeler  took  his  seat 
in  it  with  mock  gravity.  He  was  quite  willing  to 


IT    WAS   A   SWELL   NIGHT   AT   THE    MENTONS.       61 

be  hypnotized,  but  like  Denman,  he  doubted  Miss 
Menton's  ability  to  do  it. 

"Now  I  must  have  some  small,  bright  object," 
said  she,  assuming  the  air  of  the  platform  experi- 
menter in  mesmerism;  "something  round  and 
bright." 

"I  have  just  what  you  want,"  said  Colonel 
McPhister,  as  he  unhooked  from  his  watchchain  a 
small  gold  sphere.  He  handed  it  to  Miss  Menton. 

"  What  makes  it  so  heavy,  Colonel?  "  she  asked. 

"There's  a  bullet  inside  of  it,"  he  replied;  'lit 
was  inside  of  me  once.  When  the  surgeon  cut  it 
out  I  asked  for  it.  When  I  got  so  I  could  walk  to 
a  jeweler's  I  had  it  incased  in  a  gold  shell.  I  carry 
it  as  a  cheerful  memento,"  and  the  Colonel  smiled 
grimly. 

Miss  Menton  shuddered  and  turned  pale.  Ryse 
thought  she  was  going  to  faint.  "How  awful!" 
she  exclaimed;  and  Wheeler  thought  to  himself, 
"  How  tender  hearted  she  is!  " 

"  Now  let's  begin,"  said  Miss  Menton,  recovering 
her  spirits,  though  her  face  was  still  pale  and  a 
wild  excitement  burned  in  her  eyes. 

"I'm  ready,"  said  Wheeler,  assuming  an  air  of 
resignation. 

After  enjoining  silence  Miss  Menton  took  a  seat 


62  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

immediately  in  front  of  Wheeler.  At  her  direction 
he  placed  his  left  hand  in  her  right.  Then  with 
her  left  hand  she  held  the  golden  bullet,  grasped 
between  the  thumb  and  fore  finger,  immediately  in 
front  of  Wheeler  and  about  two  inches  above  his 
eyes. 

"  That  is  one  of  the  simplest  ways  of  producing 
artificial  somnambulism,"  explained  Professor  Ryse. 

"  I  must  have  quiet — perfect  quiet,"  said  Miss 
Menton  with  mock  severity;  and  then  to  Wheeler: 
"Now  put  your  mind  in  a  quiet,  receptive  con- 
dition, and  fix  your  gaze  intently  upon  this  little 
ball." 

Wheeler  did  so.  He  stared  at  it  with  an  earnest- 
ness that  made  even  Miss  Menton  smile;  Mrs.  Mit- 
tens tittered  audibly,  and  Colonel  McPhister  burst 
into  a  loud  guffaw.  This  broke  the  spell.  Wheeler 
laughed  outright,  and  Miss  Menton  in  prettily  as- 
sumed displeasure  declared  that  she  would  make  no 
more  experiments  in  the  presence  of  flippant  people. 
"  I  am  confident  I  could  hypnotize  Mr.  Wheeler  if 
we  could  be  left  alone,"  she  said  with  earnest  con- 
viction. 

"I've  no  doubt  of  it,"  chuckled  McPhister  to 
himself. 

"Let's   give   her  a  trial,"   said  the   Professor. 


IT   WAS   A   SWELL    NIGHT   AT   THE   MENTONS.       63 

"  She's  only  a  novice  and  can  surely  do  better  if 
left  alone  with  her  subject." 

At  his  suggestion  they  all  retired  to  an  adjoin- 
ing room,  closing  the  door  behind  them,  and  leaving 
Miss  Menton  and  Wheeler  alone.  Three  minutes 
had  not  passed  before  Miss  Menton  called,  "  Come 
in."  McPhister,  the  Professor,  Denman,  Montague, 
Judge  Blackwood  and  the  others  re-entered  the 
drawing-room.  They  found  Wheeler  sitting  in  the 
chair  precisely  as  they  had  left  him,  except  that  his 
eyes  were  closed. 

"  He  seems  to  be  asleep,"  said  the  Professor. 

"He's  shamming,"  said  Denman,  incredulously. 

"  You  may  be  sure  he's  not,"  retorted  Miss  Men- 
ton,  sharply.  "He  is  completely  hypnotized.  I 
will  prove  to  you  that  he  is  absolutely  under  the 
influence,  and  under  my  control." 

She  stuck  a  pin  in  his  arm.  Wheeler  did  not 
move  nor  evince  the  slightest  indication  of  pain. 
Then  she  made  him  laugh,  weep,  declaim  and  sing, 
much  to  the  amusement  of  all  who  were  assembled, 
save  Judge  Blackwood,  who  regarded  these  phenom- 
ena more  seriously. 

"Will  Mr.  Wheeler  have  any  recollection  of  this 
when  he  conies  to  himself  ?  "  he  asked  of  Professor 
Eyse. 


64  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

"  Not  the  slightest." 

"I  will  send  him  to  Paris,"  exclaimed  Miss 
Menton,  with  a  sudden  impulse.  There  was  quiet 
for  a  moment.  "What  do  you  see?"  she  asked, 
placing  her  hand  upon  Wheeler's  head. 

The  subject's  lips  moved,  but  no  sound  came 
from  them.  After  a  short  interval  he  began  to 
speak  slowly  and  without  animation: 

"I  see  a  large  restaurant.  A  lady  and  gentle- 
man are  seated  at  a  table.  They  are  talking.  Now 
the  gentleman  rises  and  goes  over  to  another  table 
where  a  dark  complexioned  man  is  sitting.  '  There 
is  a  quarrel  The  gentleman  slaps  the  dark  man  in 
the  face.  The  dark  man  knocks  him  down." 

"What  else  do  you  see?" 

There  was  another  pause,  then  Wheeler  con- 
tinued in  the  same  slow  manner.  "A  beautiful 
woman  sits  alone  and  weeps." 

"  Well,  we'll  let  her  weep,"  said  Miss  Menton, 
with  a  harsh  laugh,  putting  her  hands  to  her 
temples  nervously. 

"Now,"  she  said,  turning  to  her  astonished 
guests,  "if  you  will  all  retire  I  will  bring  my  subject 
out  of  his  sleep.  You  know  it  will  not  do  to  let  you 
see  how  this  is  done,"  she  added,  with  an  air  of 
mystery. 


IT  WAS  A  SWELL  NIGHT   AT  THE   MENTONS.      65 

The  Professor  led  the  way  into  the  next  room. 
Denman  was  very  white  and  his  legs  trembled 
under  his  weight  as  he  followed  the  others,  but  he 
said  nothing.  After  a  few  moments  had  passed, 
Miss  Menton  came  to  the  door  again  and  opened  it. 
"  Now  you  can  come  in,"  she  said,  "  Mr.  Wheeler  is 
himself  again." 

Wheeler  was  standing  by  the  mantel  examining 
his  face  as  reflected  in  the  mirror.  He  looked  dazed 
and  sheepish  as  he  turned  to  the  many  eyes  that 
were  looking  at  him  so  quizzically. 

"  Well,  how  did  I  do?"  he  asked. 

"You  were  a  fine  subject,"  said  the  Judge,  "and 
afforded  us  much  entertainment.  I  would  not  have 
believed  so  wonderful  a  thing  could  be  done,  had  I 
not  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes." 

The  others  congratulated  him,  and  particularly 
Miss  Menton,  upon  the  success  of  the  experiment. 
A  few  moments  later,  at  McPhister's  suggestion, 
Judge  Blackwood  and  himself  started  to  go.  The 
others  of  the  gathering  soon  followed.  Wheeler 
went  down  the  stairs  out  into  the  cool  air  with 
Denman,  like  a  man  walking  in  his  sleep.  He  did 
not  seem  to  have  fully  recovered  from  his  hypnotic 
nap. 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

"SHE   IS   A   SHE   DEVIL." 

They  walked  several  blocks  in  silence.  Wheeler 
was  too  much  engrossed  in  thought  to  speak,  and 
Denman  was  so  angry  that  he  dared  not  trust  him- 
self to  refer  to  what  had  just  taken  place  in  Miss 
Men  ton's  parlors.  Wheeler  proposed  that  they  stop 
at  a  restaurant  which  they  were  passing. 

"  I  think  a  cup  of  coffee  will  do  me  good,"  said 
he;  "I  feel  stupid  and  heavy." 

"  I  should  think  you  would,"  remarked  Denman 
with  bitter  sarcasm. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked  Wheeler  in  surprise. 
They  entered  the  restaurant  and  seated  themselves 
at  a  table. 

"After  you  have  given  your  order  I  will  tell 
you,"  replied  Denman,  shortly.  "All  I  want  is  a 
pint  of  claret  and  some  crackers,"  said  he,  turning 
to  the  waiter.  Wheeler  gave  his  order,  and 
repeated  his  question.  He  was  hurt  by  Denman' s 
manner. 

"  I  mean  that  you  have  made  a  fool  of  yourself," 


ii  \ 


"SHE    IS   A   SHE   DEVIL."  09 

said  Denman,  angrily,  "by  permitting  that  woman 
to  put  her  nonsense  into  your  head." 

"  But  you  offered  yourself  as  a  subject,  too. 
Where's  the  difference?" 

Denman  laughed  contemptuously. 

"  What  are  you  driving  at?  "  said  Wheeler,  knit- 
ting his  brows. 

"  You  act  your  part  very  well,  Wheeler."  Den- 
man's  voice  was  bitter,  and  his  manner  was  insinu- 
atingly insulting.  Wheeler  was  not  slow  to  resent  it. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  I  am  not  telling  you 
the  truth  when  I  say  that  I'm  utterly  ignorant  of 
what  took  place  while  I  was  under  Miss  Menton's 
influence?"  he  demanded,  rising  and  looking  down 
at  Denman  sternly.  There  was  not  a  trace  of  color 
in  his  cheeks. 

Denman  saw  that  he  was  wrong.  "  If  you  give 
me  your  word  as  a  gentleman  that  what  you  say  is 
true,  I  accept  it,  and  apologize.  But  I  will  tell  you 
what  happened.  You  will  then  be  better  able  to 
judge  whether  I  was  altogether  to  blame  for  sus- 
pecting you." 

He  related  all  that  had  taken  place  while 
Wheeler  was  in  the  hypnotic  sleep,  repeating, 
almost  word  for  word,  Wheeler's  description  of  the 
scene  in  the  French  cafe". 


70  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

Wheeler  was  amazed  and  alarmed.  '*  What  a 
dangerous  power,"  he  said  with  an  expression  of 
awe.  "  She  must  have  said  those  words  mentally 
which  I  uttered,  and  conveyed  them  to  my  mind  in 
that  way.  But  what  could  have  been  her  object?" 

"  To  show  me  that  she  has  not  forgotten.  Your 
description  brought  back  that  scene  very  vividly,  I 

assure  you.     WTas  it  for  this  she  encouraged  me  to 

• 

come  to  her  house  ?  Her  manner  to-night  filled  me 
with  a  strange  fear.  I  shall  never  set  foot  in  her 
house  again."  Denman  kept  his  word. 

"I  do  not  blame  you  for  suspecting  me,"  said 
Wheeler  with  gentle  frankness,  all  his  anger  disap- 
pearing; "but  do  not  be  blue  about  it.  I  shall 
never  let  her  experiment  on  me  again.  You  may  be 
sure  of  that.  However,  I  do  not  think  you  need 
fear  Miss  Menton;  she  is  a  very  tender-hearted 
woman." 

"  She  is  a  she  devil,"  said  Denman  savagely. 

Wheeler  did  not  answer.  He  saw  that  his  friend 
was  out  of  sorts  and  he  pitied  him.  There  was  a 
silence  between  them  for  a  moment.  "  Let  us  go 
home,"  said  Wheeler,  rising  abruptly. 

Denman  kept  his  seat.  "Wheeler,"  said  he, 
moodily,  "  I  think  we  had  better  part.  That  woman 
exerts  a  dangerous  influence  over  you.  You  do  not 


"SHE   IS   A   SHE   DEVIL."  71 

see  her  as  I  do.  She  hates  me,  and  is  sure  to  break 
our  friendship  sooner  or  later.  Why  not  escape 
that  unpleasantness  ?  Let  us  go  our  different  ways 
from  this  point.  You  go  to  your  rooms ;  I  will  go 
to  a  hotel.  I  feel  wretched  to-night  and  want  to  be 
alone.  I  will  send  for  my  luggage  to-morrow." 

"  I  won't  listen  to  it,"  interrupted  Wheeler. 

"  But  I  am  determined." 

"  Well,  then,  at  least  do  not  make  me  feel  that  I 
have  driven  you  from  me.  Go  to-morrow,  if  you 
will,  but  come  home  with  me  to-night.  I  beg  you 
will  show  me  that  much  consideration.  I  think  it 
due  me,  don't  you?  " 

Denman  reluctantly  consented.  They  arose 
and  left  the  restaurant  in  silence. 

"  That's  a  strange  pair,"  said  the  waiter  to  the 
cashier;  "quarreling  one  minute  and  good  friends 
the  next.  If  I'd  'a  been  the  slender  chap  I'd  'a 
never  held  out  to  have  the  other  one  come  and  sleep 
with  me  if  he  didn't  want  to," 

But  the  cashier  evinced  no  interest  in  the  mat- 
ter, and  the  waiter  strolled  leisurely  down  the  hall 
to  attend  to  the  wants  of  an  old  gentleman,  who  had 
for  ten  minutes  been  vainly  trying  to  get  somebody 
to  bring  him  something  to  eat. 
u 


72  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

Denman  and  Wheeler  soon  reached  the  latter' s 
quarters. 

"  Cheer  up,  old  man,"  said  the  artist;  "I  never 
saw  you  so  down  in  the  mouth  before.  You'll 
be  all  right  in  the  morning." 

"  I  hope  so.'"1 

They  bade  each  other  good  night.  It  was  very 
cordial  on  Wheeler's  part.  Each  retired  to  his  own 
room.  The  little  clock  on  the  mantel,  with  its 
sweet,  far-away-sounding  bell,  was  just  striking  the 

hour  of  twelve. 

****** 

It  is  one  of  those  brilliant  nights  in  November. 
The  moon  is  at  its  full.  The  stars  glitter  in  the 
steely  air,  and  the  earth  slumbers  peacefully  in  the 
pale  light.  The  heavens  are  glorious  in  their  radi- 
ance. They  reflect  none  of  the  blackness  and  mis- 
ery of  the  .great  city,  whose  pulse  is  not  stilled,  even 
in  the  hour  of  sleep. 

The  moon's  rays  penetrate  the  room  in  which 
Denman  sleeps.  One  can  almost  distinguish  every 
article  in  the  room  —  and  even  beyond,  in  the  stu- 
dio, the  outlines  of  the  furniture  can  be  seen  dimly. 

The  clock  on  the  mantel,  with  its  soft,  mellow 
bell,  is  sounding  the  hour  of  three.  The  figure  of 
a  human  being  comes  out  of  the  darkness  and 


"SHE   IS   A   SHE   DEVIL,"  73 

moves  slowly  toward  the  center  of  the  studio.  It 
stands  for  a  moment  motionless. 

It  crosses  slowly  and  softly  to  the  fireplace.  It 
seems  to  be  searching  for  something  on  the  mantel 
-  no ;  it  is  above  the  mantel,  for  it  reaches  up  to 
the  collection  of  arms,  which  can  be  seen  dimly  in 
the  faint  light.  The  hand  moves  mechanically  over 
the  lower  part  of  the  heavy  shield  which  forms  a 
center  piece  —  around  which  the  knives,  pistols  and 
sabers  are  arranged  —  and  finally  rests  on  the 
handle  of  a  poniard.  This  it  removes  cautiously 
and  noiselessly.  Grasping  it  tightly  in  its  hand, 
the  figure  advances  slowly  toward  the  front  room. 
The  only  sound  is  the  breathing  of  Denman.  His 
sleep  is  deep  and  healthful.  Just  at  this  moment 
he  turns  from  his  side  and  lies  full  upon  his  back; 
but  his  sleep  is  not  broken 

The  ghost-like  figure  continues  to  approach.  Its 
walk  is  slow,  almost  stately.  It  has  entered  the 
front  chamber.  It  pauses  an  instant.  Now  it 
clutches  the  poniard  more  "tightly  and  resumes  its 
measured  tread  across  the  large  room  to  the  bed 
where  Denman  lies. 

It  stoops  over  the  sleeping  man.  With  great 
deliberation  it  pulls  down  the  covering,  and  with  its 
left  hand  locates  the  exact  position  of  Penman's 


74:  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

heart;  then,  with  a  downward  stroke,  plunges  the 
poniard  into  it  up  to  the  hilt. 

Denman  gives  a  faint  gasp,  and  is  dead, 
The  figure  in  white  relaxes  its  grasp  upon  the 
handle  of  the  poniard,  and  slowly  straightens  to  an 
erect  position.  Its  hand  is  empty.  The  bright 
handle  of  the  poniard  glistens  in  the  moonlight.  Its 
blade  is  hidden  in  the  heart  of  Wheeler's  friend. 
With  the  same  mechanical  motion  that  has  charac- 
terized its  every  motion  in  this  silent  tragedy,  the 
white  form  slowly  retraces  its  steps  to  the  rear  room, 
and  disappears  noiselessly  in  the  darkness. 

All  is  quiet.  A  murder  has  been  done,  without 
a  sound  to  give  evidence  of  the  deed,  and  without 
human  recognition.  The  moon  is  shining.  Its 
rays  fall  upon  the  dead  body  of  Paul  Denman. 


i 

i 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

"MY  GOD!  THIS  is  AWFUL !*' 

As  Denman  was  generally  a  late  riser,  Wheeler 
was  not  surprised  when  he  awoke  at  nine  o'clock  to 
find  his  friend  not  yet  out  of  bed.  At  any  other 
time  he  would  have  gone  out  to  breakfast  and  left 
Denman  to  sleep  as  long  as  he  liked ;  but  knowing 
that  Denman  would  keep  his  word,  and  seek  new 
quarters  that  day,  he  felt  it  incumbent  upon  himself 
as  host,  to  be  present  when  the  man  with  whom  he 
was  about  to  part  for  so  strange  a  reason,  should 
take  his  leave.  So,  after  he  had  finished  dressing, 
he  called  out  in  a  cheery  voice:  "I  say,  old  man! 
Isn't  it  about  time  you  were  crawling  out?  " 

There  was  no  answer.  Wheeler  gave  an  extra 
stroke  of  the  brush  to  his  hair,  and  called  again. 
Still  no  answer.  "He  sleeps  like  a  log,"  he  said  to 
himself  as  he  crossed  the  studio  and  entered  the 
front  chamber.  The  sight  which  met  his  eyes  fairly 
curdled  his  blood. 

Upon  the  bed,  only  half  covered,  lay  Paul  Den- 
man, dead.  His  eyes  were  wide  open,  set  in  an 

75. 


76  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

expression  of  agony.  His  hands  were  raised  above 
his  head,  tightly  clasped.  The  breast  of  his  night 
shirt  was  stained  with  blood,  and  there  was  a  pool  of 
it  on  the  bed  near  the  left  side  of  the  body.  Near 
the  stain  on  the  night  robe  the  handle  of  a  dagger 
stood  upright.  The  blade  was  buried  to  the  hilt  in 
the  heart  of  the  motionless  body  which  lay  before 
Wheeler's  terrified  gaze. 

"My  God!  This  is  awful!"  he  exclaimed,  and 
under  an  impulse  of  extreme  terror  he  ran  to  the 
window,  raised  it  with  frantic  haste  and  cried : 

"  Murder !     Help !  —  Murder !  " 

Then  he  returned  to  the  bed  on  which  Denman 
lay.  A  sudden  desire  to  remove  the  dagger  from 
the  bloody  wound  took  possession  of  him.  He  leaned 
over  the  body  of  his  dead  friend ;  but  the  instant  his 
hand  touched  the  poniard  he  recoiled  with  an 
undefinable  horror. 

He  stood  gazing  at  the  ghastly  spectacle,  almost 
helpless.  He  made  an  effort  to  collect  his  thoughts 
—  to  do  something ;  but  he  was  like  one  who  has 
lost  his  reason. 

There  were  sounds  of  hurried  feet  upon  the 
stairs,  and  a  moment  later  loud  knocks  upon  the 
door.  It  occurred  to  Wheeler  then,  for  the  first 
time,  that  all  the  doors  were  locked.  This  recalled 


"MY  GOD!  THIS  is  AWFUL!"  77 

him  to  something  like  his  normal  mental  condition. 
He  hurriedly  unlocked  the  door.  A  policeman 
entered  the  room,  and  peered  about  inquiringly, 
still  holding  the  knob  of  the  door.  A  dozen  or  more 
persons,  who  had  followed  him  up  the  stairs,  attempt- 
ed to  squeeze  fcheir  way  in,  but  the  officer  drove  them 
back  and  closed  the  door. 

"What's  the  matter?"  he   asked. 

"  Matter  ?  Can't  you  see,"  said  Wheeler  pointing 
to  the  bed. 

"  When  did  this  happen?" 

Wheeler  calmed  himself  sufficiently  to  describe 
briefly  how  he  had  risen,  dressed,  entered  the  front 
room  to  awaken  Denman,  and  found  him  dead. 

"  Were  all  the  doors  locked?  "  asked  the  officer. 

"I  suppose  so,"  said  Wheeler.  "This  door  is 
always  locked.  I  have  not  tried  the  other  one,  which 
leads  into  my  studio.  That's  the  one  I  use,  and  I'm 
sure  I  locked  it  last  night." 

He  started  toward  the  studio  door.  "  Let  me 
see,"  said  the  officer  peremptorily.  This  door  was 
also  locked;  evidently  just  as  Wheeler  had  left  it 
the  night  before. 

"  There  is  something  mysterious  about  this,"  said 
the  officer  to  himself,  casting  a  suspicious  glance  at 
Wheeler. 


78  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

"  Can't  we  take  that  knife  out?  "  asked  the  artist, 
with  a  shudder. 

"No.  I  will  have  the  Coroner  here  in  a  few 
moments.  Leave  the  body  as  it  is."  The  officer 
leaned  over  and  examined  the  handle  of  the  dagger. 

"Have  you  ever  seen  this  knife?"  turning  to 
Wheeler. 

The  smell  of  the  blood  made  Wheeler  sick  and 
dizzy,  as  he  bent  over  the  rigid  form.  "  Why!  "  he 
exclaimed,  rising  in  surprise,  "it  belongs  to  me. 
Here  is  its  fellow,"  and  he  led  the  officer  into  the 
studio  to  the  collection  of  arms  over  the  mantel. 
He  was  right ;  the  poniard  on  the  right  of  the  shield 
was  missing;  the  other  was  in  its  proper  place  on 
the  left. 

"  He  must  have  committed  suicide,"  said  Wheeler, 
with  conviction.  "Poor  fellow!" 

"Was  there  any  reason  why  he  should?"  The 
policeman  asked  this  as  a  matter  of  form.  He  was 
not  impressed  with  the  suicide  theory. 

"  Perhaps  not,"  said  Wheeler  thoughtfully, 
"though  he  was  not  in  his  usual  spirits  when  he  re- 
tired." 

"  That  will  be  looked  into,"  said  the  officer.  "  I 
will  notify  the  Coroner  at  once  —  I  must  ask  you  to 
come  with  me." 


"MY  GOD!  THIS  is  AWFUL!"  79 

"I  am  very  faint;  I  have  not  had  my  breakfast 
yet,"  explained  Wheeler.  "  I  will  go  and  get  it  and 
return  at  once." 

"  I  will  go  with  you."  These  words,  and  the 
officer's  manner,  suggested  to  Wheeler  the  first 
thought  that  he  would  naturally  be  suspected  of  the 
murder  of  Denman;  but  he  dismissed  it  as  not 
worthy  of  serious  consideration. 

"  Yery  well,"  said  he,  with  dignity.  "  Come  with 
me  if  you  wish.  It  will  only  take  me  a  few  mo- 
ments." 

They  left  the  scene  together.  The  policeman 
locked  the  door  and  put  the  key  in  his  pocket.  On 
their  way  to  a  neighboring  restaurant  he  telephoned 
for  the  Coroner.  Wheeler  was  just  finishing  a 
chop  when  the  Coroner  entered  the  dining-room. 

"Is  the  corpse  here?"  he  asked  with  an  air 
which  indicated  that  he  was  ready  for  business. 

"No,  sir;  just  around  the  corner.  This  gen- 
tleman," pointing  to  Wheeler  "  occupied  rooms  with 
the  deceased  (the  policeman  spoke  as  if  he  were 
giving  his  testimony).  He  was  in  the  room  with 
the  body,  with  the  doors  locked,  when  I  was 
called." 

Wheeler  gave  the  officer  a  contemptuous  look. 
To  the  Coroner  he  said:  "My  name  is  Henry 


80  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

Wheeler.  I'm  an  artist  (the  preserver  of  the  peace 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  a  song  and 
dance  man).  The  dead  man  was  my  friend." 

"What  was  his  name?"  asked  the  Coroner. 

"Paul  Deriman." 

The  Coroner  made  a  note  in  a  small  book  which 
he  took  from  his  pocket.  Then  he  said:  "Come, 
Mr.  Wheeler,  let  us  go  at  once  and  get  this  busi- 
ness off  our  hands  as  soon  as  possible." 

Wheeler  accompanied  the  representatives  of  the 
law  to  his  rooms.  "  This  is  murder,"  said  the  Cor- 
oner, as  he  bent  over  the  corpse  and  examined  the 
position  of  the  body  and  the  expression  of  the  face. 

"Might  it  not  have  been  suicide?"  asked 
Wheeler. 

"No."  The  Coroner  spoke  with  decision.  "I'm 
sure  it  was  not.  If  he  had  plunged  that  knife  into 
his  heart  himself  he  never  would  have  removed  his 
hand.  He  would  have  retained  his  grip  upon  the 
handle,  and  you  would  have  found  him  in  that  way. 
Muscular  action  ceased  too  soon  after  the  knife 
entered  the  heart  to  have  permitted  his  hand  to  be 
removed." 

Wheeler  was  silent.  He  did  not  agree  with  the 
Coroner;  but  he  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to 
argue  the  point  over  Denman's  death. 


"MY  GOD!  THIS  is  AWFUL !"  81 

"  Well,"  said  the  Coroner  briskly,  "  we  may  as 
well  take  that  knife  out  now,"  and  he  leaned  over, 
and  with  some  little  difficulty  removed  the  poniard. 
The  blood  had  congealed  around  it,  and  set  it  firmly 
in  its  death  sheath.  "  He  has  not  been  dead  more 
than  five  or  six  hours,"  he  added.  Turning  sud- 
denly to  Wheeler,  he  said,  "  My  dear  sir,  I  am  com- 
pelled to  perform  an  unpleasant  duty.  I  shall  have 
to  place  you  in  charge  of  this  officer." 

"You  can  not  think  I  killed  my  friend,"  ex- 
claimed Wheeler  in  horror. 

"I  have  not  formed  any  opinion,"  replied  the 
man  of  inquests,  with  much  tact.  "You  will  be  sus- 
pected ;  you  can  see  that  yourself  —  indeed,  you  are 
suspected.  It  is,  therefore,  my  duty  to  have  you 
placed  under  arrest." 

" But  can  I  not  give  bail? " 

"  That  will  be  for  the  magistrate  to  decide." 
The  Coroner  wrapped  the  knife  in  a  piece  of  paper 
and  put  it  in  his  pocket.  "  Come,"  he  said,  "  I 
will  go  to  the  Police  Judge  with  you.  If  he  will 
admit  you  to  bail  you  will  have  no  further  annoy- 
ance until  the  inquest  is  held.  You  will  have  to  be 
there,  of  course." 

"  But,"  expostulated  Wheeler,  beginning  to  lose 
his  temper,  "YOU  have  no  right  to  suspect  me.  Do 


82  WAS   IT   A   CBIME? 

you  suppose  that  if  I  had  committed  a  murder  I 
would  take  no  precaution  to  conceal  it?  Is  it  rea- 
sonable that  I  would  call  for  an  officer  to  come  and 
find  me  with  the  doors  locked?  Could  I  not  have 
averted  suspicion  in  a  hundred  ways?" 

"  That's  all  very  true,  Mr.  Wheeler.  I'm  sorry 
for  you;  but  you  are  the  victim  of  circumstances. 
My  advice  to  you  is  to  keep  cool,  and  get  the  best 
lawyer  you  can  find  in  New  York  to  defend  you.  It 
is  better  for  you  to  come  quietly  and  avoid  sensa- 
tion as  much  as  possible." 

Wheeler  saw  that  there  was  no  alternative.  He 
accompanied  the  Coroner  and  the  officer  down  the 
stairs  out  into  the  street,  past  a  gaping  crowd  which 
had  assembled  at  the  door. 

They  found  the  recorder  in  his  private  office.  It 
did  not  take  long  to  issue  a  warrant  for  the  arrest 
of  Henry  Wheeler,  charging  him  with  the  killing 
of  Paul  Denman.  The  Coroner  suggested  that  as 
Mr.  Wheeler  was  held  merely  on  suspicion,  and  was 
prepared  to  give  bonds  for  his  appearance,  it  would 
be  well  to  permit  him  to  send  for  his  bondsmen  at 
once.  The  recorder  placed  the  bail  at  $20;000,  and 
Wheeler  hurriedly  wrote  and  dispatched  a  note  to 
Mr.  Ellersly,  a  rich  merchant  who  had  bought 
many  of  his  pictures,  and  whom  he  regarded  as  a 


"MY  GOD!  THIS  is  AWFUL!"  83 

patron,  to  come  at  once  and  bring  with  him  another 
bondsman.  Half  an  hour  later,  Mr.  Ellersly,  a 
bluff,  genial-faced  old  gentleman,  appeared  accompa- 
nied by  his  partner  Mr.  Furst.  Without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  after  listening  to  Wheeler's  nervously 
narrated  story:  of  the  tragedy,  they  signed  a  bond 
for  his  appearance.  Mr.  Furst  left  them  at  the 
door,  after  assuring  Wheeler  that  he  would  do  all 
that  lay  in  his  power  to  aid  him." 

"Now  you  must  get  a  good  lawyer"  said  Mr. 
Ellersly  to  Wheeler —  "  do  you  know  one?  " 

"No;  except  by  reputation," 

"  Well,  I  do  "  said  Mr.  Ellersly.  "  My  friend 
Jack  Wright  —  Jack  and  I  were  boys  together  —  is 
just  the  man,  He  is  not  a  criminal  lawyer,  but  he 
will  take  an  interest  in  your  case,  and  do  you  more 
good  than  any  professed  criminal  lawyer  could.  Do 
you  know,  if  I  were  charged  with  a  crime,  and  was 
innocent  of  it,  I  would  get  a  lawyer  who  had  never 
figured  in  the  criminal  courts,  but  who  had  the  con- 
fidence of  judges ;  but  if  I  were  guilty,  I  would  re- 
tain a  criminal  lawyer  as  soon  as  possible  —  the 
more  criminal  the  better.  Now  as  you  are  innocent 
it  is  plain  you  don't  want  a  criminal  lawyer ;  but 
one  like  Jack  Wright." 

The  old  gentleman's  hearty  manner  was  a  tonic 


84  WAS   IT  A   CHIME? 

to  Wlieeler.  He  grasped  Mr.  Ellersly's  hand  and 
thanked  him  as  only  a  man  who  is  in  desperate 
straits  can  thank  the  one  who  brings  succor  and 
hope.  Mr.  Ellersly  called  a  cab.  They  entered  it, 
and  were  driven  to  the  office  of  John  C.  Wright, 
Esq. 

Lawyer  Wright  was  about  the  age  of  Mr.  Eller- 
sly, say  sixty.  His  face  was  grand  in  its  strength  of 
will  and  character.  Thoughtful  gray  eyes  looked 
straight  at  you  from  beneath  a  broad  projecting 
brow.  Here  was  a  man  on  whom  a  weak  brother 
might  lean  with  full  confidence  in  his  strength  and 
honor.  When  he  had  heard  Wheeler's  story,  recited 
in  exact  detail,  he  asked,  kindly  but  very  seriously: 
"  Have  you  told  me  all,"  Mr.  Wheeler. 

"Everything." 

"  You  do  not  think  it  possible  for  a  person  to 
have  entered  the  room  at  night,  by  other  means 
than  the  door?" 

"  No  — unless  by  the  window." 

"That's  not  likely.  Is  there  anything  which 
could  be  construed  into  a  cause  that  would  warrant 
the  suspicion  that  you  had  committed  this  crime  — 
anything  that  could  be  made  to  appear  as  a  motive?" 

Wheeler  thought  a  moment.  *  "  No,"  he  answered 
"  I  can  think  of  nothing." 


"MY  GOD!  THIS  is  AWFUL  I1'  85 

"  Eeturn  to-morrow,  and  we  will  go  deeper  into 
the  case  "  said  Mr.  Wright.  "  I  have  other  business 
that  must  be  disposed  of  at  once.  But  you  may 
trust  me  not  to  forget  you.  You  shall  have  my 
best  efforts,  for  the  sake  of  my  old  friend  "  and  he 
gazed  affectionately  upon  Mr.  Ellersly,  who  grasped 
his  hand  warmly,  and  said,  "  Always  the  same,  old 
Jack." 

Mr.  Ellersly  insisted  that  Wheeler  should  ac- 
company him  to  his  home.  "  Eeturning  to  your 
rooms  is  out  of  the  question"  he  said.  "It  would 
unsettle  your  nerves  —  and  they  are  in  a  pretty  bad 
condition  alreadyc  You  need  all  the  strength  you 
have.  Come  and  make  your  home  with  me  until 
this  thing's  all  over."  There  were  grateful  tears  in 
Wheeler's  eyes,  as  he  re-entered  the  carriage  with 
his  big-hearted  patron. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

"BUT  IT  is  RETRIBUTION'  —  RETRIBUTION!" 

Miss  Menton  stood  at  tlie  window  and  looked 
down  into  the  street.  She  had  been  restless  all 
day.  The  excitement  of  the  night  before  had 
brought  on  a  nervous  headache.  She  had  tried  to 
read,  but  even  the  latest  French  novel  failed  to 
interest  her.  The  servants  were  surprised  to  see 
her  rise  from  the  table  leaving  her  breakfast  almost 
untouched;  and  she  had  eaten  very  sparingly  at 
lunch.  It  was  an  unusual  thing  for  Miss  Menton 
to  be  without  appetite.  Even  her  father  noticed  it. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  he  had  asked. 

"  Nothing.  I  will  be  all  right  by  evening,"  she 
had  answered,  as  she  abruptly  left  the  dining-room. 

Turning  from  the  window,  Miss  Menton  rang 
for  a  servant.  "  Go  out  and  buy  me  an  evening 
paper,"  she  said.  The  girl  soon  returned. 

"There's  bad  news  in  that  paper,  Miss!"  she 
said,  excitedly,  as  she  placed  a  copy  of  The  Tele- 
gram in  Miss  Menton' s  lap. 

"What  is  it?" 

86 


!  5 
I  * 


87 


"BUT  IT  is  RETRIBUTION!  89 

Miss  Menton  looked  up  suddenly,  and  with  in- 
terest. Any  kind  of  news  was  welcome  if  it  would 
drive  away  the  ennui  from  which  she  was  suffering. 

"Mr.  Denman  has  been  murdered,  and  Mr. 
Wheeler  has  been  arrested,"  replied  the  servant, 
breathlessly.  "It's  awful,  ain't  it,  Miss?" 

Miss  Menton  turned  deathly  pale,  put  her  hand 
to  her  heart  convulsively,  and  sank  back  in  her 
chair.  Thinking  she  had  fainted,  the  girl  started 
to  leave  the  room  to  call  old  Mr.  Menton. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Miss  Menton,  recovering 
herself  with  an  effort.  "I  am  better  now.  It  was 
a  great  shock  to  me.  You  may  go,  Mary," 

"  She  was  awfully  fond  of  one  of  them,"  said 
Mary  to  the  cook,  to  whom  she  hastened  to  tell  the 
news  which  she  had  read  in  The  Telegram,  before 
giving  it  to  Miss  Menton,  "but  I  can't  tell  which. 
I  think  it's  Mr.  Wheeler,  though."  The  cook  and 
Mary  settled  themselves  comfortably  for  a  long 
talk.  They  had  not  had  so  exciting  a  subject  for 
conversation  for  a  long  time. 

Miss  Menton  opened  the  paper  with  trembling 
ringers.  .  Under  flaming  head  lines  she  found  this 
sensational  account  of  the  mysterious  death  of  Paul 
Denman.  It  did  credit  to  the  reporter  who  wrote 
it,  considering  that  he  had  devoted  only  two  hours 


90  WAS    IT    A    CHIME? 

of  liis  legs  and  brains   to  the   collection   and  the 
embellishment  of  the  facts  (  ?) : 

Paul  Den  man  and  Henry  Wheeler  occupied 
rooms  together  on  Sixth  avenue,  near  Thirty-fourth 
street.  Denman  was  a  man  of  leisure,  having,  it  is 
understood,  an  assured  income.  Wheeler  is  well- 
known  in  artistic  circles.  He  is  said  to  be  an  artist 
of  promise,  and  has  exhibited  several  paintings  at 
the  Academy.  He  is  also  a  frequent  contributor  to 
the  magazines.  These  men  were  apparently  friends. 

As  Officer  Sullivan  was  passing  the  house  this 
morning,  at  about  nine  o'clock,  he  heard  a  cry  of 
"  Murder!  Help!  "  He  looked  up  and  saw  a  man 
standing  at  an  open  window.  This  man  was 
Wheeler.  It  was  he  who  had  cried  for  help.  Officer 
Sullivan  hurried  promptly  to  the  scene.  To  his 
surprise  he  found  the  door  of  the  room  locked.  He 
demanded  admittance.  After  a  short  delay  the 
door  was  opened.  The  officer  found  Mr.  Denman 
lying  dead  upon  the  bed  with  a  knife  in  his  heart. 
His  suspicions  were  at  once  aroused.  He  believed 
that  a  foul  murder  had  been  committed.  Wheeler 
pretended  to  be  very  much  grieved  at  the  death  of 
his  friend.  He  said  he  had  found  him  dead  upon 
rising  a  few  moments  before,  but  he  could  give  no 
satisfactory  explanation  of  how  the  crime  could 


"BUT  IT  is  RETRIBUTION!"  91 

have  been  committed  by  anybody  but  himself.  He 
tried  at  first  to  make  the  Coroner  —  who  was  sum- 
moned by  Officer  Sullivan  —  believe  that  Mr.  Den- 
man  had  died  by  his  own  hand,  but  the  Coroner  did 
not  accept  that  theory.  He  had  Wheeler  arrested. 
The  prisoner  furnished  bonds  at  the  Jefferson  Mar- 
ket Police  Court.  The  reporter  tried  to  find  him  to 
get  his  statement,  but  was  unable  to  do  so,  the 
alleged  murderer  disappearing  very  mysteriously 
after  leaving  the  police  court. 

The  evidence  against  him  thus  far  is  circumstan- 
tial; but  it  so  strong  that  Officer  Sullivan  thinks 
there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  his  guilt.  He 
devoted  the  entire  morning  to  working  up  the  case, 
and  he  has  discovered  what  he  believes  to  be  a  valu- 
able clue.  A  waiter  in  a  restaurant  on  Sixth  avenue, 
about  six  blocks  from  the  house  in  which  the  murder 
was  committed,  tells  a  story  which  connects  Wheeler 
very  closely  with  the  crime.  His  name  is  John 
Snyder.  He  is  on  what  is  called  the  "  night  watch  " 
in  the  restaurant  in  question.  He  begins  work  at 
noon  and  stops  at  two  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
This  morning  he  was  on  his  way  down  town — "  tak- 
ing an  airing "-— as  he  expressed  it  to  the  officer, 
before  going  to  work.  It  so  happened  that  he  was 
passing  Uie  house  where  Wheeler  and  the  murdered 


92  WAS    IT    A    CRIME? 

man  lived  just  as  Wheeler  was  brought  out  by  the 
Coroner  and  Officer  Sullivan.  He  says  he  recognized 
him  at  once  as  one  of  the  two  men  who  had  been  in 
the  restaurant  in  which  he  (the  waiter)  is  employed, 
on  the  night  before.  These  men  had  high  words, 
and  one  of  them  rose  to  his  feet,  as  if  about  to  strike 
the  other.  Snyder  says  that  Wheeler  was  this  man. 
He  went  on  to  tell  Officer  Sullivan  that  the  quarrel 
seemed  to  have  been  amicably  settled,  and  that  the 
man  whom  he  recognizes  in  Wheeler,  begged  the 
other  to  go  home  with  him  —  if  only  for  that  night. 
He  seemed  to  be  particularly  anxious,  so  Snyder 
says,  that  his  companion  should  go  home  with  him. 
Upon  hearing  this  story  Officer  Sullivan  took  the 
waiter  to  the  morgue  and  showed  him  Denman's 
body.  Without  hesitation  Snyder  pronounced  it  to 
be  that  of  the  man  with  whom  Wheeler  had  had  the 
quarrel  in  the  restaurant  the  night  before. 

This  would  seem  to  establish  a  motive  for  the 
crime,  though  it  is  not  yet  known  what  the  quarrel 
was  about.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  Snyder's 
testimony  will  aid  the  authorities  to  unravel  the 
mystery.  The  Coroner  says  Denman  had  not  been 
dead  more  than  seven  hours  when  he  was  called. 
The  date  of  the  inquest  has  not  yet  been  set.  - 

Miss  Menton  gazed  vacantly  before  her.     The 


"BUT   IT   IS   KETKIBUTION !  "  93 

paper  had  fallen  from  her  hands.  She  seemed 
dazed  —  unable  to  comprehend  the  full  meaning  of 
what  she  had  read.  She  heaved  a  profound  sigh. 
"Poor  Wheeler/'  she  murmured,  and  an  expression 
of  true  pity  softened  her  face. 

"But  it  is  a  retribution  —  retribution!"  she 
added  hysterically,  and  she  staggered  out  of  the 
room. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

"I   CALL    GOD    TO    WITNESS    THAT    I    DID    NOT    KILL 
PAUL   DENMAN." 

Mr.  Ellersly  insisted  on  going  to  lawyer 
Wright's  office  with  Wheeler,  when  the  latter 
started  down  town  to  keep  his  appointment.  The 
old  gentleman's  heart  went  out  to  the  young  artist 
in  his  suffering. 

"You  need  a  friend,  my  boy,  and  I  intend  to 
devote  myself  to  you  until  this  bad  business  is 
ended,"  said  he.  "I  am  convinced  of  your  inno- 
cence, and  it  will  help  others  to  believe  in  it  if  the 
world  sees  that  your  friends  stand  by  you." 

"Yes;  but  can  we  make  the  world  believe  it?" 
Wheeler  asked,  moodily. 

He  had  passed  a  sleepless  night.  His  face  Avas 
pale  and  worn,  and  there  were  dark  circles  beneath 
his  eyes.  The  strain  was  beginning  to  tell  on  him 
already.  The  more  lie  thought  of  the  situation  in 
which  circumstances  had  placed  him,  the  clearer  it 
became  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove  his  inno- 
cence. After  reading  the  statement  of  the  waiter, 

94 


"I   CALL   GOD    TO   WITNESS."  95 

Snyder,  in  the  morning  papers,  he  had  been  filled 
with  a  sudden  fear.  He  had  entirely  forgotten  the 
incident  in  the  restaurant.  It  came  back  to  him  now 
with  startling  force.  He  saw  that  its  bearing  upon 
the  case  would  be  magnified  by  those  who  were  dis- 
posed to  believe  him  guilty.  So  depressed  was  he 
that  he  felt  that  only  a  miracle  could  save  him.  He 
tried  to  formulate  a  theory  to  explain  Denman's 
death  by  other  means  than  suicide,  but  he  failed  at 
the  very  start.  Denman  had  no  enemies  —  at  least, 
none  that  he  knew  of;  and  besides,  even  if  an 
enemy  had  desired  his  death,  how  could  it  have 
been  accomplished?  Were  not  all  the  doors  locked, 
and  every  means  of  entrance  barred?  It  was  pos- 
sible, of  course,  for  the  murderer  to  have  entered 
by  the  aid  of  a  pass  key,  but  that  was  not  likely. 
In  despair  he  turned  to  his  first  impression,  that 
Denman  had  died  by  his  own  hand;  but  even  that 
theory  seemed  weaker  to  him  than  it  had  the  day 
before.  Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  Coroner's 
presumption  —  that  if  Denman  had  stabbed  himself 
death  would  have  followed  so  suddenly  that  he 
would  not  have  had  the  strength  or  will  to  remove 
his  hand  from  the  poniard  —  Wheeler  could  not 
entirely  convince  himself  that  Denman  would  have 


96  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

had  the  moral  courage  to  end  his  own  life.     Still, 
there  was  no  other  way  to  solve  the  mystery. 

"  Come,  come,"  said  Mr.  Ellersly,  cheerily;  "  keep 
up  your  courage.  Jack  Wright  will  get  us  out  of 
this;  you  may  depend  upon  it." 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  Wheeler,  in  a  voice  indicative 
of  anything  but  hope. 

They  had  reached  the  lawyer's  office.  Mr. 
Wright  was  waiting  for  them  —  or  rather,  for 
Wheeler.  He  seemed  surprised  to  see  Mr.  Ellersly. 
The  latter  noticed  it.  "  You'll  see  a  good  deal  of 
me,  Jack,"  he  said;  "  more  than  you  have  seen  for 
years.  I  intend  to  stay  right  with  this  matter  until 
you  have  brought  my  young  friend  out  all  right." 

The  lawyer's  face  wore  an  unusually  grave  ex- 
pression. 

"I  would  like  to  talk  with  Mr.  Wheeler  pri- 
vately, if  you  will  kindly  leave  us  alone  for  a  few 
moments,  Ellersly,"  he  said.  "We  have  serious 
business  on  hand,  and  there  must  be  no  misunder- 
standing at  the  start." 

"  He,  too,  suspects  me,"  said  Wheeler  to  him- 
self, bitterly. 

"  Do  you  want  me  to  go  out,  Henry?  "  The  old 
man  spoke  with  the  solicitude  of  a  father. 

"No,  no,"  replied   Wheeler,  with  feeling     "I 


"I  CALL   GOD   TO   WITNESS."  97 

have  nothing  to  hide  from  you;  and  I  want  to  lay 
my  whole  heart  bare  to  Mr.  Wright." 

"  That's  well  spoken,"  said  the  lawyer.  "  Now 
we  shall' know  what  we  are  about.  To  begin  with, 
explain  to  me  the  story  of  the  waiter,  which  is 
printed  in  all  the  papers  this  morning.  I  was  dum- 
founded  when  I  saw  it;  for  it  does  not  accord  with 
the  assurance  you  gave  me  yesterday,  that  there 
was  nothing  which  could  be  construed  as  a  motive 
to  connect  you  with  the  crime.  Tell  me  all  about 
it." 

"I  had  forgotten  the  circumstance,"  said 
Wheeler,  and  he  spoke  with  a  sincerity  that  carried 
conviction.  "  The  waiter  has  exaggerated.  There 
was  no  serious  quarrel.  It  was  over  in  a  moment." 

"What  was  the  cause?" 

uWe  had  spent  the  evening  at  the  house  of 
Miss  Menton  —  a  kind  of  general  resort  for  men 
about  town.  The  Mentons  are  scientific  people  — 
that  is,  the  old  man  is  a  scientist,  and  his  daughter, 
who  lives  alone  with  him,  has  naturally  taken  some 
interest  in  his  studies.  We  had  an  experiment  in 
hypnotism.  I  was  the  subject.  I  permitted  myself 
to  be  put  under  the  hypnotic  influence  by  Miss  Men- 
ton,  who  caused  me  to  describe  a  certain  scene 
which  took  place  several  years  ago  in  Paris,  in 


98  WAS    IT    A    CKIME? 

which  both  she  and  Mr.  Deiimau  had  figured.  This 
made  Mr.  Denman  angry.  At  the  restaurant  he 
suggested  that  we  part  company  at  once.  He  knew 
Miss  Menton  was  his  enenfy,  and  he  believed  she 
had  sufficient  influence  over  me  to  break  our  friend- 
ship in  time.  He  finally  consented  to  return  to  my 
rooms  that  night.  That  was  all." 

"Why  did  this  Miss  Menton  hate  Denman?" 
asked  the  lawyer. 

"Must  I  tell  you?  I  pledged  my  word  to  Den- 
man that  I  would  never  disclose  his  secret." 

"Your  life  is  in  danger,  Mr.  Wheeler;  if  that 
secret  has  the  slightest  bearing  on  this  quarrel,  it 
is  your  duty  to  make  it  known.  I  insist  upon  know- 
ing it." 

Wheeler  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  without 
reserve  told  Denman' s  story.  The  lawyer  followed 
its  recital  closely.  "A  very  strange  case!"  he 
muttered. 

"Do  you  love  this  woman  —  Miss  Menton?  "  he 
asked  abruptly. 

Wheeler  flushed.  "  I  admire  her  very  much," 
he  admitted. 

"  Were  you  ever  in  love  with  her  ?  " 

"Seriously?     No." 

Mr.  Ellersly  had  listened  with  wonder  to  Wheel- 


"I   CALL  GOD   TO   WITNESS."  99 

er's  statement.  "  How  in  the  world  did  yon  ever  get 
into  such  company  ?"  he  asked,  shaking  his  head 
reprovingly. 

"They  are  not  such  bad  people,"  explained 
Wheeler,  quickly.  "  They  are  very  clever,  and  I 
liked  to  visit  them  because  there  is  nothing  conven- 
tional about  their  house." 

"It's  always  wiser  for  a  man  to  be  conventional, 
even  if  he  does  find  it  dull,"  put  in  the  lawyer, 
dryly.  "  Many  a  man,  and  woman  too,  has  got 
into  trouble  by  trying  to  ignore  the  rules  which 
govern  society." 

"I  can  see  that  very  plainly  now,"  said  poor 
"Wheeler,  dejectedly. 

There  was  a  moment's  silence,  broken  by  Mr. 
"Wright,  who  said:  "The  line  of  the  State's  prose- 
cution which  we  must  meet,  is  quite  clear  to  me.  It 
will  be  alleged  that  you  were  in  love  with  this 
woman;  that  Denrnan  came  between,  and  you  grew 
jealous;  that  after  the  quarrel  in  the  restaurant  you 
seemingly  forgave  him,  and  urged  him  to  come  to 
your  rooms.  Why?  Simply  that  you  might  kill 
him." 

Wheeler  almost  groaned  aloud.  Dark  as  was 
the  picture  his  fears  had  drawn,  it  was  not  so  black 
as  this. 


100  WAS   IT  A   CRIME? 

"  What  can  I  do?  "  He  asked  the  question  hope- 
lessly. 

"  Mr.  Wheeler,"  said  lawyer  Wright,  "  look  me 
squarely  in  the  face.  As  you  expect  your  life  to  be 
spared  in  this  world,  and  forgiveness  in  the  next, 
tell  me  the  truth.  Did  you  kill  Paul  Denman?  " 

Wheeler  rose  to  his  feet,  raised  his  right  hand 
involuntarily,  and  with  a  voice  choked  with  the 
emotions  which  swelled  his  bosom,  said:  "  I  call 
God  to  witness  that  I  did  not  kill  Paul  Denman. 
A  murderous  thought  never  entered  my  heart." 

He  tottered  to  his  seat,  and  wept  like  an  hysteri- 
cal woman.  "  This  is  unmanly,  I  know,"  he  said, 
attempting  to  calm  himself.  "But  I  can't  help  it. 
All  is  dark  before  me.  I  feel  like  a  man  at  the 
bottom  of  a  deep  pit,  groping  around  for  an  outlet, 
and  fearing  every  moment  to  fall  into  an  awful 
abyss.  My  mind  is  a  chaos  of  a  thousand  vague 
thoughts  chasing  one  another  in  mad  confusion.  I 
fear  I  shall  go  mad."  The  wretched  man  arose 
and  paced  the  floor  in  a  nervous  excitement  painful 
to  witness. 

"He  has  a  highly  nervous  temperament,"  said 
Mr.  Ellersly  to  Mr.  Wright,  by  way  of  explanation. 
"  I  have  always  known  that." 

"Poor    fellow!"    and    the    lawyer    arose    and 


"I   CALL   GOD   TO   WITNESS."  101 

placing  his  hand  on  Wheeler's  shoulder,  said:  "I 
believe  you  are  innocent,  and  I  will  use  my  heart 
and  brain  and  soul  to  make  a  jury  believe  so." 

"God  bless  you!"  said  Mr.  Ellersly  wiping  a 
tear  from  his  eye. 

This  confidence  and  sympathy  made  a  man  again 
of  Wheeler.  It  was  what  he  had  craved.  He 
began  to  show  an  interest  in  his  case. 

"What  defense  will  you  make?"  he  asked. 

The  lawyer  did  not  answer  at  once.  After  a 
moment's  thought  he  said:  "I  can't  tell  until 
after  the  inquest.  I  don't  know  what  evidence 
they  will  produce." 

Wheeler  and  Mr.  Ellersly  took  their  leave,  the 
former  in  better  spirits,  and  .with  a  faint  hope  that 
lawyer  Wright  would  be  able  to  clear  him  with 
honor. 

No  new  facts  were  developed  by  the  inquest. 
The  Coroner  courteously  permitted  Mr.  Wright  to 
be  present  and  to  cross-examine  Snyder  the  waiter, 
who  finally  admitted  that  the  quarrel  between 
Wheeler  and  Den  man  was  not  a  serious  one.  He 
said  he  could  not  tell  what  the  quarrel  was  about, 
because  he  only  heard  a  word  now  and  then;  he 
judged  the  men  were  quarreling  from  Wheeler's 
actions.  The  result  of  the  inquest  was  as  Mr. 


102  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

Wright  had  supposed ;  Wheeler  was  held  to  await 
the  action  of  the  grand  jury,  which,  it  is  needless 
to  say,  found  a  true  bill  against  him. 

Wheeler  had  come  to  regard  Mr.  Ellersly's 
house  as  his  home.  He  remained  there  until  the 
trial  took  place  three  weeks  later,  going  nowhere 
except  to  lawyer  Wright's  office.  Mr.  Wright  had 
prepared  the  only  defense  that  could  reasonably  be 
made.  He  purposed  to  show  that  the  relations  be- 
tween the  men  were  really  friendly,  and  to  deny 
that  the  testimony  of  Snyder  was  sufficient  to  war- 
rant even  the  suspicion  that  Denman  had  died  by 
Wheeler's  hand;  but  had  in  a  moment  of  despond- 
ency committed  suicide. 

"  That  ought  to  clear  me,"  said  Wheeler,  when 
Mr.  Wright  told  him  his  plan.  "  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  Denman  committed  suicide." 

"I  have  very  grave  doubts,"  said  the  lawyer 
seriously;  "but  it  is  the  only  defense  we  can 
make.  The  truth  is,  circumstances  are  very  much 
against  us." 

Wheeler's  hopes  fell  again.  "  If  that's  the  case 
I'm  afraid  the  jury  will  take  the  worst  view  of  it." 

The  lawyer  made  no  reply.  He  was  afraid 
BO,  too. 


CHAPTEE  XL 

HER   HAND   RELAXED   ITS   HOLD    UPON   THE   RAILING, 
AND   SHE   FELL   FROM   THE   WITNESS   CHAIR. 

On  the  day  of  the  beginning  of  the  trial  of 
Henry  Wheeler,  charged  with  the  killing  of  Paul 
Denman,  the  court  room  was  well  filled  with  specta- 
tors. The  Denman  murder  was  still  the  sensation 
of  a  great  city  where  sensations  are  the  daily  pro- 
duct of  the  police  courts.  Up  to  this  time  the 
newspaper  reporters  had  not  been  able  to  discover 
that  there  was  really  a  woman  in  the  case,  though 
several  of  them  in  their  speculative  articles  on  the 
mystery  had  hinted  at  it,  on  general  principles. 
However,  the  peculiarity  of  the  crime  in  itself  was 
sufficient  to  hold  public  interest. 

When  Wheeler  entered  the  court  room  and  took 
a  seat  by  the  side  of  his  lawyer  there  was  a  buzz  of 
whispering  voices.  The  sentiment  of  the  spectators 
was  that  he  did  not  look  like  a  murderer.  He  was 
very  pale,  very  thin,  and  his  once  erect  form  was 
slightly  stooped.  He  had  suffered  during  that 
short  month  more  than  a  man  of  harder  nature  could 

103  15 


104  WAS   IT  A   CKIME? 

have  suffered  in  a  year.  He  had  been  despondent 
ever  since  Mr.  Wright  had  so  frankly  told  him  that 
the  chances  were  against  him. 

A  fine,  drizzling  rain  was  falling  without. 
Wheeler  regarded  this  as  a  bad  omen ;  and  when  he 
looked  up  to  the  bench  and  saw  Judge  Blackwood 
there,  his  heart  sank  within  him.  His  mind  went 
back  to  that  memorable  night  in  the  Menton  house. 
Not  one  of  the  guests  who  were  present  that  night 
had  come  to  offer  their  sympathy  —  yes,  one  had; 
Colonel  McPhister,  and  he  had  done  it  with  a 
heartiness  characteristic  to  the  man.  "  The  Judge 
will  be  like  the  others,"  Wheeler  thought.  "He 
will  believe  that  I  was  in  love  with  that  woman,  and 
jealous  of  Denman." 

The  day  was  consumed  in  getting  a  jury  —  and 
an  exceptional  jury  it  was,  composed  of  sensible 
business  men  and  intelligent  mechanics. 

"If  we  can't  get  justice  from  that  jury,"  re- 
marked lawyer  Wright  to  Mr.  Ellersly,  "we  may 
as  well  give  up." 

Mr.  Wright's  purpose  was  to  gain  as  much  time 
as  possible,  and  he  improved  every  opportunity  that 
offered  itself  to  delay  the  trial.  He  was  not  without 
hope  that  something  would  turn  up  that  could  be 
used  to  the  advantage  of  his  client  He  was  fearful 


105 


SHE  FELL  FROM  THE  WITNESS  CHAIR.    107 

that  lie  could  not  make  the  suicide  theory  sufficiently 
strong  to  overcome  the  circumstantial  evidence 
which  the  prosecution  would  offer. 

The  next  day  the  examination  of  witnesses  was 
begun.  Officer  Sullivan  testified  to  the  discovery  of 
the  body,  to  the  fact  that  the  door  of  the  room  in 
which  the  dead  man  lay  was  locked  when  he  arrived, 
and  he  swore  that  Wheeler  seemed  to  be  dazed  and 
frightened.  The  Coroner  related  the  conversation 
which  he  had  with  Wheeler ;  and  the  physician  who 
made  the  autopsy  satisfied  the  jury  that  a  man 
could  not  live  long  with  a  knife  in  his  heart,  and 
that,  consequently,  Denman  had  died  almost  in- 
stantly. It  was  his  opinion  that  Denman  had  not 
been  dead  more  than  ten  hours  when  he  first  saw 
the  body,  which  was  at  1  o'clock  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  discovery  of  the  crime. 

Snyder,  the  waiter,  told  a  straight  story  of  the 
quarrel  in  the  restaurant.  It  was  evident  that  he 
was  honest,  and  Mr.  Wright's  cross-examination  did 
not  materially  weaken  the  testimony  he  had  given. 

Something  of  a  sensation  was  created  when  the 
clerk  called  the  name  of  Miss  Helene  Menton.  It 
was  the  first  intimation  the  audience  had  received 
that  there  was  a  woman  in  the  case;  and  when  it 
saw  that  there  was  a  woman,  and  a  handsome  one  as 


108  WAS    IT    A    CRIME? 

well,  its  interest  increased  one  hundred  per  cent. 
Miss  Mentoii  came  forward  and  took  the  stand. 

"How  old  are  you,  Miss  Men  ton?"  Question 
by  the  District  Attorney. 

"Thirty."  The  answer  came  in  a  clear,  melodi- 
ous voice. 

"Do  you  know  the  defendant?" 

"Yes."     It  was  little  more  than  a  whisper. 

"  Your  Honor,"  interrupted  Mr.  Wright,  "  I  must 
ask  that  the  witness  remove  her  veil.  I  do  not 
think  Miss  Menton  will  object,"  he  added  politely. 

Before  the  Judge  could  speak  Miss  Mentoii  had 
removed  her  veil,  disclosing  a  face  deadly  white. 
Its  strange  beauty  captivated  jury  and  audience  at 
once.  The  examination  was  continued. 

"  Miss  Menton,  how  long  have  you  known  the 
defendant?" 

"  More  than  a  year." 

"Did  you  know  the  deceased?" 

"Yes." 

"How  long?" 

"  About  a  month." 

Mr.  "Wright  hastily  scribbled  a  memorandum  on 
the  foolscap  before  him. 

"  What  were  the  relations  between  the  defendant 
and  the  deceased,  so  far  as  you  could  discover?" 


SHE  FELL  FROM  THE  WITNESS  CHAIR.    109 

"  Apparently  friendly." 

The  District  Attorney  seemed  to  be  disappointed 
in  the  answer.  He  continued: 

"  Did  the  defendant  ever  express  an  opinion  of 
the  deceased  to  you?" 

"  Once,  I  think.  He  said  that  Mr.  Denman  was 
a  strange  fellow;  that  there  were  some  things  in 
his  character  that  he  liked,  and  many  that  he  did 
not." 

"  Miss  Menton,  did  not  the  defendant  regard 
himself  as  your  lover?" 

"I'm  sure  I  can  not  say,"  replied  the  witness, 
with  perfect  self-possession,  and  without  change  of 
countenance. 

" Did  he  not  make  offer  of  his  love  to  you?" 

"  Not  exactly." 

"  Did  he  never,  in  all  the  time  you  knew  him, 
say  anything  which  led  you  to  believe  that  he  loved 
you?" 

"  I  don't  know  how  to  answer  that,"  said  Miss 
Menton  with  a  faint  smile. 

"Answer  in  your  own  way,"  said  the  District 
Attorney  encouragingly.  Miss  Menton  after  a 
moment's  hesitation  replied: 

"  Once  he  intimated  that  he  entertained  a  warmer 


110  WAS   IT   A   CEIME? 

feeling  than  friendship  for  me.     I  think  that  was 
all." 

"  Did  he  not  in  many  ways  show  that  he  thought 
more  of  you  than  of  other  women  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  so;  your  question  is  difficult  to  answer." 

"Was  not  Mr.  Wheeler  jealous  of  you?" 

"  Not  that  I  know  of." 

"  Did  he  have  any  reason  to  suppose  that  Den- 
man,  the  deceased,  was  his  rival  ?  " 

"  No."     It  came  very  sharp  and  bitter. 

"  Might  he  not  have  imagined  that  he  had  some 
cause  to  believe  so  ?  " 

"I  object  to  that  -question,"  said  Mr.  Wright. 
"He's  got  no  business  to  ask  the  witness  what  she 
thinks  some  one  else  thought." 

The  objection  was  sustained. 
"  Then  I  will  put  it  in  another  form,"  said  the 
District  Attorney,  determined  to  carry  his  point. 
"Was  there,  or  had  there  ever  been,  anything 
between  you  and  the  deceased,  which  the  defendant 
could  have  construed  into  a  cause  for  jealousy  ?  " 

"  I  refuse  to  answer  that  question,"  said  Miss 
Men  ton  coolly.  The  jurors  opened  their  eyes  very 
wide,  and  there  was  quite  a  stir  in  the  audience. 

"  The  question  is  a  proper  one,"  said  the  Judge; 
"the  witness  will  please  answer  it" 


SHE  FELL  FROM  THE  WITNESS  CHAIR.     Ill 

Miss  Menton  was  defiant  for  a  moment,  then  she 
answered,  apparently  with  great  frankness: 

"  I  can  truthfully  say  there  was  never  anything 
between  Mr.  Denman  and  myself  that  could  have 
made  Mr.  Wheeler  jealous." 

The  District  Attorney  did  not  press  that  point 
further. 

"  The  defendant  and  the  deceased  were  both 
guests  at  your  house  on  the  night  before  the  mur- 
der, were  they  not?"  he  continued. 

"Yes,"  answered  the  witness,  with  a  slight 
tremor  in  her  voice. 

"What  took  place  at  your  house  that  night?" 

"We  had  some  experiments  in  hypnotism," 
replied  Miss  Menton,  making  a  perceptible  effort  to 
appear  at  her  ease. 

"Well,  what  was  done?" 

"  Mr.  Wheeler  was  hypnotized." 

"By  whom?" 

"  By  me." 

"What  do  you  expect  to  show  by  this  rambling 
examination,"  interrupted  Mr.  Wright. 

"You'll  find  out  soon  enough.  Just  be  patient," 
replied  the  District  Attorney  sarcastically.  He  went 
on  with  the  examination: 


112  WAS   IT   A    CRIME? 

"  Did  Mr.  Wheeler  do  anything  on  that  night 
which  led  you  to  believe  he  disliked  the  deceased?  " 
'  "No." 

"Did  he  do  anything  at  which  the  deceased 
could  have  taken  offense?  " 

"Mr.  Denman  seemed  to  have  taken  some 
offense  at  something  Mr.  Wheeler  said." 

"Said  when?" 

"When  he  was  hypnotized." 

"What  was  it?" 

"I  don't  know;  nothing  that  appeared  to  me  to 
be  a  cause  for  offense.  He  may  have  been  angry 
because  Mr,  Wheeler  consented  to  make  the  experi- 
ment." 

"  I  shall  show  before  I  get  through,  Your  Honor, 
that  the  quarrel  in  the  restaurant  was  on  this  very 
point."  Having  thus  delivered  himself,  of  his 
intentions,  the  District  Attorney  announced  that  he 
had  no  more  questions  to  ask  the  witness. 

Mr.  Wright  began  his  cross-examination.  Miss 
Menton  had  not  made  a  bad  witness  —  that  is,  she 
had  not  done  much  injury  to  Wheeler's  case.  It 
would  seem  to  have  been  politic  for  Mr.  Wright  not 
to  press  her  further,  but  he  could  not  afford  to  lose 
a  possible  trick  in  this  game  of  life  and  death. 

"Miss  Menton,"  he  began,  "you  say  you  knew 


SHE  PELL  FROM  THE  WITNESS  CHAIR.    113 

Mr.  Denman  about  a  month.  Are  you  not  mis- 
taken?" 

Miss  Menton  clutched  the  railing  nervously,  as 
she  answered  in  a  low  voice: 

"  No." 

"  Let  your  mind  go  back  five  years,  and  see  if 
you  can  not  recall  a  meeting  with  the  deceased 
before  you  met  him  in  New  York  two  months 
ago?" 

"No."  The  voice  was  still  lower,  and  she 
pressed  her  hand  to  her  heart.  Mr.  Wright  fol- 
lowed up  his  advantage.  He  asked  in  a  stern  voice, 
which  was  very  effective: 

"  Didn't  you  meet  him  in  Paris  five  years  ago, 
and  haven't  you  good  cause  to  remember  that  meet- 
ing? Answer  my  question." 

But  the  witness  was  in  no  condition  to  answer 
questions.  Her  hand  relaxed  its  hold  upon  the 
railing,  and  she  fell  from  the  witness  chair  in  a 
swoon.  Her  father,  who  had  occupied  a  seat  near 
by,  rushed  to  her  side  and  raised  her  in  his  arms. 

"  My  daughter  has  been  very  ill  for  some  days," 
said  the  old  man,  addressing  the  Court.  She  is  suf- 
fering from  a  nervous  affection  which  I  fear  is  likely 
to  end  her  life  at  any  moment.  The  excitement  has 
been  too  much  for  her." 


114  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

A  carriage  was  summoned,  and  Miss  Menton, 
still  unconscious,  was  placed  in  it  and  hastily  con- 
veyed to  her  home.  As  it  was  then  late  in  the 
afternoon,  the  trial  was  adjourned  to  the  next  day. 

Mr.  Wright  rubbed  his  hands  with  satisfaction 
as  he  entered  his  office  accompanied  by  Wheeler  and 
Mr.  Ellersly.  "  I  don't  know  what  advantage  I  can 
put  this  to,"  he  said,  "but  it's  something  to  have 
got  the  best  of  it  on  the  first  day.  We've  got  the 
sympathy  of  the  jury  to-day.  We'll  try  hard  to 
keep  it,  and  we  may  yet  be  able  to  upset  this  motive 
theory." 

But  Wheeler  could  not  see  it  in  that  light.  He 
feared  that  all  the  facts,  if  they  were  brought  out, 
would  make  the  alleged  motive  stronger  than  ever. 

That  night,  while  Mr.  Wright  was  in  his  library 
at  home,  busily  at  work  upon  a  theory  that  Denman 
had  committed  suicide  through  remorse  for  the 
killing  of  Miss  Menton' s  lover  —  a  theory  which  he 
purposed  to  have  Miss  Menton  aid  by  her  testi- 
mony, a  servant  brought  him  a  letter.  To  his  sur- 
prise it  was  from  Lucius  Menton ;  but  its  contents 
were  even  more  surprising.  It  read: 

"  Come  to  my  house  at  once.  My  daughter  is 
very  ill  —  dying,  I  fear.  She  insists  upon  seeing 
you,  and  Mr.  Ellersly." 


SHE  FELL  FROM  THE  WITNESS  CHAIR.    115 

Without  stopping  to  speculate  upon  the  object 
of  Miss  Menton's  desire  to  see  him,  but  feeling  in- 
tuitively that  it  had  some  important  bearing  upon 
Wheeler's  case,  Mr.  Wright  ordered  a  cab  and  drove 
rapidly  to  Mr.  Ellersly's  house.  That  good  old  soul 
was  in  bed,  but  it  did  not  take  him  long  to  dress  him- 
self. He  entered  the  cab  with  the  lawyer,  and  soon 
they  were  at  the  door  of  the  Mentons.  They  were 
shown  at  once  to  the  room  where  Miss  Menton  lay. 
The  ugly  face  of  Dr.  Grip  met  them  at  the  door. 

"She  is  very  low;  she  can  not  live  much 
longer,"  he  said  as  he  passed  out  of  the  door, 
leaving  them  alone  in  the  room  with  the  dying 
woman. 

A  moment  later  Mr.  Wright  re-entered  the  draw- 
ing room,  where  Dr.  Grip  and  Menton  were  quietly 
discussing  the  efficacy  of  a  new  anaesthetic. 

"  I  must  have  a  stenographer  at  once,"  he  said 
with  only  half  suppressed  excitement.  "  There  is 
no  time  to  lose." 

Dr.  Grip  volunteered  his  services  as  a  messenger. 
At  Mr.  Wright's  suggestion  he  took  the  cab  in 
which  the  lawyer  and  Mr.  Ellersly  had  come,  and 
which  was  still  standing  at  the  door,  and  drove  to 
the  house  of  Mr.  Wright's  managing  clerk,  who  was 
soon  ready  to  return  with  him. 


116  WAS    IT   A    CRIME? 

Upon  arriving  at  the  Menton  house  they  found 
Mr.  Wright  awaiting  their  return  with  anxiety.  He 
hurried  the  stenographer  into  the  sick  room.  The 
door  closed  behind  them. 

Two  hours  later  it  opened,  and  Mr.  Wright, 
Mr.  Ellersly,  and  the  clerk  re-entered  the  drawing 
room.  Lucius  Menton  was  not  inquisitive.  He 
asked  them  no  questions,  and  the  trio  entered  their 
cab  and  drove  away. 

Dr.  Grip  hastened  at  once  to  Miss  Menton' s  bed- 
side. "  She  seems  calmer,"  he  said  to  Mr.  Menton- 
who  had  followed  him  into  the  room,  "  but  she  is 
very  much  weaker.  Death  may  come  at  any 
moment." 

As  lawyer  Wright  let  himself  into  his  house 
with  his  latch-key  he  said  to  himself:  "  This 
wonderful  story  may  be  true  —  I  believe  it  is,  but 
can  I  ever  make  a  jury  believe  it?" 


CHAPTEB  XII. 

"  THANK    GOD   THEEE   IS   LIGHT   AHEAD." 

Johnson,  Mr.  Wright's  clerk  and  stenographer, 
did  not  sleep  that  night.  The  December  sun  peeped 
in  through  the  window  and  found  him  still  at  his 
desk.  His  busy  pen  did  not  rest  until  'it  had 
covered  a  score  or  more  sheets  of  close  lined  legal  cap. 
The  poor  fellow  was  tired  out,  but  he  appreciated 
the  importance  of  the  task,  and  he  did  not  grumble. 
Johnson  was  a  representative  of  a  large  class: 
Trustworthy,  loyal  to  his  employer,  and  always  will- 
ing. How  rare  it  is  that  one  of  these  over-worked, 
under-paid  clerks,  to  whom  matters  of  great  import 
are  entrusted,  proves  false  or  recreant!  And  how 
rare  it  is  that  their  loyalty  is  appreciated  and 
rewarded ! 

Mr.  Wright  made  his  appearance  an  hour  earlier 
than  usual  that  morning,  and  Mr.  Ellersly  and 
Wheeler  entered  the  office  only  a  few  moments  be- 
hind him. 

"  What  is  this  hurry  and  excitement?"  asked 
117 


118  WAS   IT   A   CKIME? 

Wheeler.  "Mr.  Ellersly  is  very  mysterious.  He 
will  not  enlighten  me.  Is  there  new  hope  ?  " 

"Yes;  let  that  satisfy  you,  for  I  have  no  time  to 
talk  now,"  he  answered.  "  We  have  a  month's  work 
to  do  in  a  day,  and  we  can't  waste  a  moment." 

Piqued  at  the  abruptness  of  Mr.  Wright's  reply, 
Wheeler  took  a  seat  near  the  window,  and  tried  to 
interest  himself  in  the  morning  paper.  He  had 
grown  indifferent.  He  did  not  care  much  how  the 
case  might  end. 

Court  would  not  open  for  an  hour;  and  Mr. 
Wright  improved  every  moment  of  the  intervening 
time.  On  the  way  down  town  he  had  stopped  at 
the  residence  of  Dr.  Gray,  his  family  physician, 
and  left  word  for  him  to  come  to  his  office  as  early 
as  possible;  and  the  doctor  put  in  an  appearance 
shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Wheeler  and  Ellersly. 
Wright  had  a  hurried  consultation  with  him  in  his 
private  office.  As  they  came  out,  and  Dr.  Gray  pre- 
pared to  go,  he  turned  to  Mr.  Wright  and  said: 

"You  may  depend  upon  me.  It  will  not  be  so 
difficult  as  you  thought.  Fortunately  Nurgson,  the 
celebrated  physiologist  of  Paris,  who  has  made  this 
subject  a  special  study,  is  now  in  New  York.  I  can 
get  you  half  a  dozen  other  scientific  men  who  will 
give  their  testimony,  and  be  glad  of  the  opportunity." 


"THANK   GOD   THERE   IS   LIGHT   AHEAD."       119 

"We  must  have  them  to-morrow,"  said  Mr. 
Wright. 

"Do  not  fear;  they  will  be  on  hand,  I  promise 
you."  And  the  doctor  hurried  away. 

"Have  you  completed  that  document,  Johnson?  " 
asked  Mr.  Wright. 

The  clerk  replied  that  it  was  all  ready  for  him, 
but  that  he  would  like  to  compare  it  with  his  notes 
again.  Johnson  was  a  very  careful  clerk. 

All  this  hub-bub  and  mysterious  conversation 
awoke  Wheeler  from  his  apathy.  He  knew  that 
something  must  have  happened  to  affect  his  case 
favorably,  but  what  it  was  he  could  not  surmise. 
However,  he  had  grown  to  have  such  complete  con- 
fidence in  Mr.  Wright  that  he  was  quite  willing  to 
leave  the  case  entirely  in  the  lawyer's  hands.  Be- 
sides, he  had  grown  weary  of  speculating  upon  the 
mystery  of  Denman's  death.  He  had  believed  from 
the  first  that  his  friend  had  died  by  his  own  hand, 
and  no  matter  how  he  might  reason  and  theorize  he 
always  returned  to  that  conclusion.  He  could  not 
understand  how  any  man  who  knew  him  could  for  a 
moment  doubt  his  innocence. 

"Come,  Mr.  Wheeler;  it  is  time  to  go."  The 
brisk  voice  of  Mr.  Wright  startled  Wheeler  from  his 
reverie. 


120  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

The  crier  was  opening  the  session  when  they 
entered  the  court  room.  The  attendance  was  larger 
than  it  had  been  on  any  previous  day  of  the  trial. 
The  newspaper  accounts  of  the  testimony  of  Miss 
Menton,  and  the  dramatic  climax  which  her  falling 
from  the  witness  stand  in  a  swoon  had  caused,  had 
created  a  new  interest  in  the  trial;  and  applicants 
for  admission  were  so  numerous  that  one  could 
hardly  squeeze  into  the  space  between  the  doors 
and  the  railings. 

When  the  jury  had  entered  the  box,  and  the  trial 
had  been  formally  resumed,  Mr.  Wright  arose  and 
in  a  grave  voice  and  impressive  manner,  said: 

"  I  beg  the  Court  to  adjourn  this  trial  for  a  day. 
New  evidence  —  evidence  which  affects  my  client 
very  closely,  which  proves  his  innocence  has  been 
discovered.  I  will  present  it  to  the  Court  to-morrow, 
together  with  the  testimony  of  several  witnesses,  for 
whom  I  shall  ask  the  Court  to  issue  subpoanas  to- 
day." 

"  What  is  your  new  evidence?  "  sneeringly  asked 
the  District  Attorney.  "Could  you  tell  us  now?" 

"  I  could,  but  I  will  not,"  answered  Mr.  Wright 
curtly. 

"  The  Court  will  grant  the  adjournment  if  you  can 
show  good  cause,"  said  the  Judge. 


"THANK  GOD  THERE  is  LIGHT  AHEAD."     121 

*'  I  have  no  wish  nor  reason  to  conceal  the  evi- 
dence which  I  purpose  to  introduce,"  replied  Mr. 
Wright.  "And  I  am  willing  that  the  gentleman 
who  seems  determined  to  have  my  client  punished, 
guilty  or  not  guilty,  shall  have  full  opportunity  to 
investigate  its  source,  and  overcome  it  if  he  can." 

"Proceed,"  said  the  Court. 

"I  purpose  to  show,"  continued  Mr.  Wright, 
speaking  with  a  force  and  earnestness  which  com- 
manded the  attention  and  respect  of  every  one  in 
the  room,  "  that  my  client  has  been  the  victim  of  a 
strange  plot  —  and  as  foul  as  it  is  strange.  I  shall 
show  that  it  was  his  hand  that  drove  the  dagger  into 
the  heart  of  Paul  Denman,  but  that  he  is  not  re- 
sponsible —  neither  to  God  nor  to  the  law  for " 

"  I  protest,"  cried  Wheeler,  with  startling  vehe- 
mence, jumping  to  his  feet  and  raising  his  hand  to 
the  Judge.  "I  have  been  deceived.  Whatever 
Mr.  Wright  may  mean  by  this  I  shall  not  consent 
to  it,  for  it  is  false.  I  kill  Paul  Denman !  I  a 
murderer!  It's  a  lie!  I  will  not  submit! " 

Wheeler  was  beside  himself  with  excitement.; 
His  eyes  dilated  and  his  whole  frame  shook  with 
emotion.  The  District  Attorney  smiled,  and  looked 
at  the  jury  out  of  the  corners  of  his  eyes  as  much 


122  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

as  to  say:  "What  do  you  think  of  this  business 
now?" 

A  quiet  satisfaction  beamed  in  Mr.  Wright's 
eye  for  a  moment.  Then  turning  to  Wheeler  he 
said,  kindly:  "You  may  trust  me,  Mr.  Wheeler. 
Sit  down  and  compose  yourself."  Wheeler  resumed 
his  seat  in  a  maze  of  bewilderment. 

"It's  all  right,  Henry,"  said  Mr.  Ellersly,  lean- 
ing over  and  whispering  in  his  ear. 

"I  shall  show,"  continued  Mr.  Wright,  after 
quiet  had  been  restored,  "  that  my  client  committed 
this  act  while  in  a  hypnotized  condition,  the  scien- 
tific explanation  and  proof  of  which  will  be  fur- 
nished in  due  time.  This  condition  was  produced 
in  him  by  the  witness  who  gave  her  testimony  yes- 
terday, and  who  fainted  on  the  stand  —  Miss  Helene 
Menton.  I  have  her  dying  statement  to  that  effect 
—  a  statement  which  no  court  can  refuse  to  receive. 
The  poor  creature  may  be  dead  now ;  at  the  best  she 
can  last  only  a  few  hours." 

It  was  almost  impossible  to  preserve  order  in  the 
court  room.  Men  and  women  began  talking  aloud, 
and  the  commotion  finally  became  so  great  that  it 
was  necessary  for  the  bailiff  to  assert  his  muscular 
power  as  well  as  his  official  authority  to  restore 
quiet. 


"THANK    GOD    THERE    IS    LIGHT    AHEAD."        125 

The  District  Attorney  was  on  his  feet  in  an 
instant. 

•"This  is  without  precedent — " 

"  That's  true,"  assented  Mr.  Wright,  parenthet- 
ically. 

"  I  say  it  is  without  precedent,"  repeated  the 
District  Attorney,  waving  his  arms  like  a  windmill. 
"  Here  comes  an  attorney  and  asks  for  delay  that 
he  may  present  evidence  to  prove  that  his  client  is 
guilty  —  to  which  the  client  very  naturally  objects. 
And  what  kind  of  testimony  is  it?  Why  it's  as 
ridiculous  on  its  face  as  an  old  woman's  ghost 
story.  I  hope  Your  Honor  will  not  grant  an 
adjournment." 

"  But  the  Court  will,"  said  Judge  Blackwood, 
with  a  promptness  and  decision  that  almost  took  the 
District  Attorney's  breath  away.  "  It  will  not  do," 
he  continued,  gravely,  "  to  scoff  at  things  we  can 
not  understand,  especially  when  there  is  a  life 
at  stake,"  and  the  adjournment  was  granted. 

Wheeler  was  so  weak  and  nervous  when  he 
reached  Mr.  Wright's  office  that  he  begged  permis- 
sion to  go  into  the  private  room  and  lie  down.  Mr. 
Wright's  explanation  to  the  Court,  in  which  he  had 
shown  that  Miss  Menton  had  caused  him  to  do  a 
murder,  had  unmanned  him.  He  dared  not  think 


126  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

of  it,  and  yet  the  lawyer's  words  echoed  and  re- 
echoed through  his  brain. 

"  Now  do  you  see  why  I  did  not  want  to  tell 
AVheeler?"  said  lawyer  Wright  to  Mr.  Ellersly 
when  they  were  alone.  "  I  knew  that  a  man  of  his 
impulsive,  nervous  nature  would  be  quite  certain  to 
act  just  as  he  did  when  the  secret  was  revealed.  We 
can  never  make  him  believe  that  he  committed  that 
murder,  and  that  very  fact  strengthens  our  case 
with  the  court  and  jury.  To-morrow  I  will  read  the 
confession." 

"Thank  God  there's  light  ahead,"  said  Mr. 
Ellersly,  fervently.  "But  poor  Wheeler!  It  will 
blight  his  life." 

"  That's  where  you  are  mistaken,"  answered  Mr. 
Wright.  "  It  will  not  blight  his  life  a  whit  more 
than  it  will  mine." 


CHAPTER  XITL 

A  BUBNING  DE8IEE  FOB  BEVENGE  UPON  THE  MAN 
WHO  HAD  BOBBED  ME  OF  MY  LOVE. 

When  the  Denman  murder  trial  was  resumed  on 
the  following  day  there  were  half  a  dozen  scholarly- 
looking  men  occupying  seats  within  the  railing. 
"  Those  are  the  experts,"  said  a  quid  nunc  in  the 
audience,  and  those  who  heard  him  looked  at  the 
scientific  gentlemen  with  much  the  same  interest 
they  would  have  exhibited  in  viewing  a  collection  of 
Bengal  tigers. 

When  Mr.  Wright  arose  and  began  to  unfold  a 
roll  of  manuscript  the  audience  held  its  breath,  for 
the  promised  confession,  the  strangest  of  all  con- 
fessions ever  known  in  the  annals  of  crime  of  the 
great  city  of  New  York,  was  about  to  be  read. 

"  This,"  said  Mr.  Wright,  "  is  the  statement  of 
Helene  Menton,  made  in  articulo  mortis  on  the 
twelfth  day  of  December  of  this  year  —  the  day 
before  yesterday.  The  unhappy  woman  since  that 
time  has  gone-  before  that  higher  Court  where  all 
may  hope  for  mercy.  Let  us  hope  that  she  may 

127 


128  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

receive  it.  She  died  at  12  o'clock  last  night." 
Mr.  Wright  continued:  "The  confession  reads 
thus: 

"  '  Believing  death  to  be  at  hand,  I,  Helene  Men- 
ton,  as  an  act  of  justice  to  an  innocent  man,  and  in 
the  hope  of  forgiveness  through  this  act,  solemnly 
declare  that  I  am  morally  guilty  of  the  murder  of 
Paul  Denman.  That  the  world  may  not  judge  me 
too  harshly  let  me  relate  the  story  of  my  life :  —  I 
will  tell  why  I  was  moved  to  be  revenged  upon  the 
man  who  robbed  me  of  happiness  and  honor,  when 
they  were  almost  within  my  grasp,  after  long  years 
of  misery  and  neglect.  I  was  born  in  Paris  on  the 
30th  of  June,  1856.  My  mother,  who,  at  the  time 
of  her  marriage  was  a  dancer  of  some  renown  in 
the  theatrical  world  of  Paris,  died  when  I  was  five 
years  old,  leaving  me  to  my  father's  care.  Even 
my  earliest  recollections  are  sorrowful  and  bitter. 
I  craved  affection  but  could  not  find  it.  My  father 
was  cold  in  his  nature.  I  saw  but  little  of  him,  as 
most  of  his  time  was  devoted  to  his  studies.  When 
I  was  eight  years  old  I  went  with  him  to  India. 
We  spent  three  years  there.  I  was  left  to  the  care 
of  nurses  most  of  that  time.  My  father  had  a 
craze  to  solve  the  mysteries  of  occultism.  It  never 
occurred  to  him  that  the  nature  of  his  child  was 


A   BURNING   BESIRE   FOR   REVENGE.  129 

worthy  of  investigation.  From  India  we  went  to 
England.  Russia  soon  offered  attractions  to  him. 
So  it  was,  up  to  my  twentieth  year  we  were  con- 
stantly journeying  from  one  country  to  another. 
His  associates  were  mostly  scientific  men.  It  made 
no  difference  what  a  man's  moral  character  was;  so 
long  as  he  was  a  scholar  my  father's  house  was 
always  open  to  him.  I  grew  to  womanhood  in  an 
atmosphere  of  cynicism,  selfishness  and  material- 
ism. I  never  knew  a  truly  good  woman  in  my  life. 
I  have  never  known  the  refining  influence  of  home. 
My  surroundings  have  been  without  sentiment, 
without  love,  and  without  a  tinge  of  moral  color. 

"  '  And  yet  the  woman's  heart  within  me  did  not 
wither  in  this  unhealthy  atmosphere.  I  had  vague 
longings  for  a  life  that  was  not  cold,  hard  and  sel- 
fish. I  believed  that  I  deserved  a  kinder  fate.  My 
hopes  seemed  about  to  be  realized  when  Paul  Den- 
man  thrust  himself  into  my  life.  We  had  been 
living  in  Paris  about  five  years.  Those  five  years 
had  been  full  of  misery  to  me.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  me  had  I  left  my  father's  house  and 
sought  refuge  in  a  convent.  Once  I  thought  of 
doing  so;  but  my  father  had  destroyed  my  faith  in 
religion,  by  his  cold  and  logical  arguments,  and  I 
turned  back  to  the  old  life  without  hope. 


13G  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

"  '.The  society  which  I  met  at  our  house  in  Paris 

—  I  could  not  call  it  home  —  was  gradually  killing 
what  little  sentiment  and  tenderness  there  was  left 
in  me,  when  I   met  the  Count  Ludwig.     He  was 
brought  to  our  house  by  one  of  my  father's  friends 

—  a  German.     He  was  the  first  man  I  had  ever  met 
since   I   had   become   old     enough  .to   understand 
human  motives  who  seemed  to  have  an  honest  re- 
spect for  me.     He  talked  to  me  of  those  things  of 
which  I  had  so  often  thought  in  my  lonely  misery 

—  of  home  life,   of  his  mother,  and  once  I  found 
myself  weeping  as  I   listened  to  his  description  of 
the   beauty  and  goodness  of  his   sisters,   and   the 
happiness  of  one  of  them  in  her  preparations  for  her 
approaching   marriage     to    a   man  she  loved    and 
respected.     These  were   the  first  tears  I  had  shed 
since    childhood.     My    grief    deeply    moved     the 
Count.     His  sympathy   was  sweet    to    me    and   I 
poured  out  to  him  the  story  of  my  unhappy  life. 
"Poor  child!"  said  he,  and  he  took  my  hand  and 
pressed  it  kindly.     From  that  moment  I  loved  him 
with  a  love  that  women  who  have    had  affection  all 
their  lives  could    not   understand.     I  worshipped 
him. 

"  ( He  became  a  constant  visitor  at  our  house.     I 
held  myself  aloof  as  much  as  possible   from  the 


A  BURNING   DESIRE   FOR   REVENGE.  131 

others  who  came  almost  nightly.  My  father  put  no 
restraints  upon  his  guests.  They  played  at  cards, 
drank  till  late  into  the  night,  and  came  and  went  as 
they  pleased.  This  was  my  father's  idea  of  hospi- 
tality. It  amused  -him  to  see  men  get  drunk,  and 
he  would  laugh  heartily  when  they  lost  their  money 
at  cards.  He  never  joined  them  at  the  gaming 
table.  My  love  for  the  Count  ennobled  my  aspira- 
tions, and  I  hated  my  surroundings  with  a  bitter- 
ness stronger  than  ever.  To  my  great  joy  I  soon 
discovered  that  my  affection  for  the  Count  was 
reciprocated.  The  bliss  of  the  moment  when  he 
took  me  in  his  arms  and  kissed  me  —  the  first  kiss 
a  lover  ever  imprinted  upon  my  lips  —  comes  back 
to  me  now,  and  I  am  happy,  even  in  these  my  dying 
moments.  I  was  to  be  his  wife,  an  honored  wife  — 
and  a  Countess.  I  will  not  deny  that  the  position  I 
would  secure  in  society  by  marrying  Ludwig 
increased  my  desire  to  become  his  wife,  and  influ- 
enced me  almost  equally  with  my  love  for  him,  in 
naming  an  early  day  for  the  wedding. 

"  *  I  was  to  get  out  of  the  meshes  which  had  held 
me  all  my  life.  I  was  to  live  among  good  people,, 
to  be  respected  —  a  Countess.  Women  who  have 
never  known  what  it  is  to  be  without  the  respect  of 
the  world  —  to  be  unknown  and  neglected  —  can  not 


132  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

appreciate  how  great  was  the  joy  which  possessed  me 
when  I  saw  the  way  opened  to  an  honored  place  in 
in  society.  I  was  to  have  been  married  to  the  Count 
in  December  —  five  years  ago.  In  November  Paul 
Denman  was  brought  to  our  house  by  a  young  art 
student  —  a  forward  young  man  who  had  called  only 
once  or  twice  before.  Denman  was  one  of  the  coarsest 
men  I  had  ever  met.  He  did  not  have  even  the  super- 
ficial refinement  of  the  professional  rou&  He  pre- 
sumed that  because  it  was  not  difficult  to  be  intro- 
duced at  our  house,  and  because  of  the  unconven- 
tionality  of  the  life  we  led,  that  I  was  entitled  to 
little  better  treatment  than  the  shameless  women  of 
the  streets.  I  directed  the  servants  not  to  admit 
him  if  he  should  call  again.  He  came  on  the  fol- 
lowing night.  The  servants  carried  out  my  com- 
mands, and  he  turned  from  the  door,  cursing  me  and 
every  one  in  the  house.  I  think  he  was  drunk  that 
night  as  well  as  the  night  before. 

"  *  A  few  nights  later,  on  returning  from  the  opera 
with  the  Count,  happy  in  his  society  and  in  the 
prospect  of  our  approaching  marriage,  we  stopped 
at  a  cafe,  as  was  our  custom  after  the  play  or  opera. 
This  man  Denman  occupied  a  seat  at  a  table  near 
where  we  sat.  I  had  not  told  Ludwig  of  the  insult 
he  had  offered  me.  I  dared  not.  Denman  seemed 


A   BURNING   DESIRE   FOR    REVENGE.  133 

bent  upon  showing  me  that  he  despised  me.  He 
stared  at  me  so  contemptuously  and  insultingly  that 
Ludwig  noticed  it,  and  before  I  could  entreat  him 
not  to  pay  any  attention  to  him  he  had  crossed  to 
where  Denman  sat.  They  quarreled.  Ludwig  was 
the  smaller  man  of  the  two,  and  Demnan,  the 
coward,  took  advantage  of  his  physical  power;  he 
knocked  him  down.  The  Count  challenged  him. 
I  begged  him  not  to  fight  with  so  low,  so  base  a 
man,  but  I  could  not  change  his  purpose.  I  prayed 
that  night  for  the  first  time  since  my  childhood.  I 
might  have  known  that  such  prayers  as  I  could  offer 
would  not  be  answered;  I  had  110  right  to  expect  it. 
"  '  I  never  looked  upon  the  face  of  Ludwig  again. 
He  fell  by  the  hand  of  a  man  his  inferior  in  cour- 
age, in  honor,  and  in  manliness.  Perhaps  it  was 
his  fate.  My  father  had  a  passing  interest  in  my 
grief.  He  searched  all  Paris  for  Denman,  but 
could  not  find  a  trace  of  him.  Two  years  later  we 
came  to  New  York.  My  father  was  born  here,  but 
was  educated  abroad,  and  had  no  love  for  his  native 
country.  We  live  here  very  much  as  we  did  in 
Paris,  though  my  father's  associates  in  New  York 
are  of  a  better  class,  morally,  than  those  who 
gathered  around  him  there.  I  had  drifted  back 
into  the  old  life.  If  anything  I  grew  harder,  more 


134  WAS   IT   A   CKIME? 

indifferent  than  ever,  without  hope  of  happiness, 
but  with  a  burning  desire  for  revenge  upon  the 
man  who  had  robbed  me  of  my  love,  and  cheated 
me  of  a  place  among  good  women.  Can  I  be 
blamed?  What  else  was  there  for  me  to  live  for? 

"  *  I  was  leading  this  miserable  existence  when 
Mr.  Wheeler  —  who,  next  to  the  Count,  I  admired 
more  than  any  one  I  had  ever  met  —  brought  Den- 
man  to  our  house.  He  did  not  know  whom  he  was 
to  meet.  He  trembled  under  the  glance  I  gave 
him.  His  conscience  made  a  coward  of  him. 
From  that  moment  I  devoted  my  every  thought  to 
devising  some  means  of  revenge.  Nothing  but  his 
life  would  satisfy  me.  I  encouraged  him  to  return. 
I  knew  his  weakness,  and  seemingly  lowered  myself 
to  the  level  on  which  he  had  placed  me.  I  had  not 
yet  thought  of  a  way  of  wreaking  my  revenge.  I 
had  only  one  desire;  that  was,  to  kill  him.  I 
believe  it  would  have  resulted  in  my  doing  the 
deed  with  my  own  hand  had  not  a  novel  means  pre- 
sented itself.  The  method  which  I  used  suggested 
itself  to  me  after  a  conversation  I  had  with  Prof. 
Ryse.  He  described  to  me  how  the  investigations 
of  hypnotism  had  been  carried  to  such  an  extent  in 
Paris  as  to  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  an  impres- 
sion could  be  conveyed  to  a  person,  while  in  the 


A   BUENING   DESIRE   FOB   BEVENGE.  135 

hypnotic  state,  which  could  be  re-awakened  at  any 
time  that  might  be  determined  upon  by  the  opera- 
tor. He  showed  me  the  report  of  a  case  in  which  a 
man  who  had  been  hypnotized  had  been  directed 
by  the  person  who  hypnotized  him  one  week 
from  that  day  and  hour,  to  take  off  his  shoes  and 
stockings  and  walk  barefooted  for  a  hundred  yards. 
The  experiment  was  a  success.  The  Professor 
pointed  out  the  danger  of  the  abuse  of  this  strange 
power  —  a  murder  might  be  done  by  its  aid,  he 
said. 

"  *  My  mind  acted  quickly.  I  decided  to  try  this 
powerful  agent,  with  which  I  was  familiar  in  a 
general  way.  I  never  thought  of  Mr.  Wheeler  as  a 
subject  until  he  himself  suggested  it  in  a  playful 
way.  I  can  not  comprehend  how  I  consented  to 
make  him  a  partner  to  my  crime.  The  opportunity 
suggested  itself  sooner  than  I  had  expected.  On 
the  night  of  the  6th  of  November  there  were  a 
number  of  guests  at  our  house;  among  them  Paul 
Denman,  Mr.  Wheeler,  Dr.  Grip,  Mr.  Landis, 
Colonel  McPhister,  and  his  friend  Judge  Black- 
wood.  The  conversation  turned  upon  psychology, 
and  Prof.  Byse,  who  has  made  hypnotism  the  sub- 
ject of  thoughtful  study  and  investigation,  began  to 

16 


186  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

describe  the  advancement  which  had  been  made 
in  it. 

"  '  I  felt  guilty  even  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
act,  and  was  fearful  that  Professor  -Kyse  would  go 
on  to  say  that  it  was  possible  for  a  murder  to  be 
done  through  its  power  —  as  he  had  suggested  to 
me. 

"  '  I  was  not  unfamiliar  with  the  method  of  pro- 
ducing the  hypnotic  trance.  I  would  have  known 
how  to  do  it  without  Professor  Ryse's  directions. 
To  every  one  in  the  room  but  myself  the  hypnotis- 
ing of  Mr.  Wheeler  was  a  pleasing  experiment  — 
nothing  more.  My  first  attempt  failed.  I  had  not 
intended  that  it  should  succeed.  It  was  my  pur- 
pose to  be  alone  with  Mr.  Wheeler.  I  succeeded 
in  getting  the  other  members  of  the  company  to 
leave  the  room.  Mr.  Wheeler  was  perfectly  willing 
to  be  hypnotized.  He  suspected  nothing,  feared 
nothing. 

"'I  could  not  have  found  a  better  subject.  In  a 
very  few  moments  he  had,  by  following  my  direc- 
tions and  gazing  fixedly  at  the  small  object  I  held 
in  my  hand  —  a  golden  bullet  —  prophetic  instru- 
ment, which  I  had  borrowed  from  Colonel  Mc- 
Phister  —  passed  into  the  hypnotic  state.  It  was 


A   BURNING   DESIRE    FOR    REVENGE.  137 

then  that  I  called  the  guests  in.  I  caused  Mr. 
Wheeler  to  do  a  few  of  the  things  which  are  in  the 
alphabet  of  hypnotism.  I  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  to  mentally  describe  the  scene  at  the 
caf&  in  Paris,  which  led  to  the  loss  of  my  lover,  the 
blasting  of  my  hopes  —  and  to  this  crime.  Mr. 
Wheeler  repeated  the  words  aloud.  I  could  see 
that  it  struck  fear  to  Denman's  heart,  and  I  enjoyed 
it  with  a  savage  satisfaction. 

"  '1  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  I  could  convey 
an  impression  to  Mr.  Wheeler  mentally  that  would 
be  active  after  I  should  arouse  him  from  his  trance. 
So,  pretending  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  mys- 
tery connected  with  the  process  of  bringing  him  out 
of  the  sleep,  which  I  did  not  care  to  explain,  I  asked 
the  company  to  leave  the  room.  They  did  so.  It 
was  in  the  moment  that  they  were  absent  that  I 
repeated  aloud,  and  with  all  the  impressiveness  I 
could  assume,  these  words:  "At  three  o'clock,  get  a 
knife  and  plunge  it  into  Paul  Denman's  heart."  I 
said  these  words  three  times.  Poor  Mr.  Wheeler 
repeated  them  after  me,  as  innocently  as  he  would 
have  repeated  a  prayer.  Then  I  awoke  him  from 
his  trance,  and  the  party  dispersed.  Suddenly,  the 
thought  entered  my  mind  that  it  was  impossible  for 


138  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

Wheeler  to  carrj  out  my  directions,  because  ne 
would  doubtless  be  asleep  at  that  hour.  I  had 
never  heard  that  an  impression  could  be  retained 
and  put  in  execution  if  the  subject  were  in  a  natural 
sleep  at  the  time  when  that  impression  should  sug- 
gest itself  to  the  mind.  This  doubt  brought  with 
it  the  hope  that  my  wicked  plan  would  fail.  I  be- 
gan then  to  realize  how  awful  it  was  to  make  a 
murderer  of  this  innocent  man  who  trusted  me. 
The  deed  was  done  as  I  had  ordered  it:  it  was  done 
at  the  hour  I  had  named,  as  the  autopsy  proves. 
Henry  Wheeler  is  as  innocent  of  the  crime  as  a 
babe  unborn.  I  am  the  murderess,  as  much  so  as  if  I 
had  with  my  own  hand  driven  the  dagger  into  Paul 
Denman's  heart.  The  persons  whose  names  I  have 
mentioned  in  this,  my  dying  confession,  who  were 
present  when  I  hypnotized  Mr.  Wheeler,  will  attest 
the  truth  of  my  statement  as  to  what  took  place  at 
my  house.  I  am  about  to  die.  I  am  not  sorry  that 
Denman  was  murdered.  I  feel  that  the  only  crime 
I  committed  was  in  making  Mr.  Wheeler  the  in- 
strument. By  the  friendship  he  once  professed 
for  me  I  beg  his  forgiveness.  I  was  heartbroken 
and  desperate  when  the  means  was  placed  in  my 
hands  to  destroy  the  man  who  had,  without  cause, 


A   BURNING    DESIRE    FOR   REVENGE.  139 

robbed  my  life  of  the  only  hope  and  happiness  it  had 
ever  known,  and  I  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
employ  it.  I  die ;  glad  to  quit  a  world  which  has 
been  so  hard  to  me.  Henry  Wheeler  is  no  more 
responsible  for  the  death  of  Paul  Denman  than  is 
the  inanimate  knife  ™rhich  penetrated  that  bad 
heart.' " 


CHAPTEB  XIV. 

"NOT  GUILTY." 

During  the  reading  of  the  dying  confession  of 
Helene  Menton,  the  voice  of  Mr.  Wright  was  the 
only  sound  that  broke  the  stillness  of  the  court 
room.  It  created  a  profound  sensation,  not  only 
among  the  spectators,  but  among  the  jurymen. 

Mr.  Wright  proceeded  to  prove  by  Mr.  Ellersly 
and  Johnson  the  correctness  of  the  document  which 
he  had  just  read,  after  which  Prof.  Ryse  was  called, 
and  the  taking  of  what  has  come  to  be  called 
"  expert "  testimony  was  begun.  Prof.  Ryse  first 
described  what  had  taken  place  at  the  Menton  house 
on  the  night  of  the  murder,  corroborating  the  testi- 
mony of  Miss  Menton  in  every  detail,  so  far  as  it 
related  to  what  was  done  in  the  presence  of  the 
guests. 

"  You  are  sure  that  Mr.  Wheeler  was  hypnotized 
by  Miss  Menton,  are  you?"  asked  Mr.  Wright. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  of  it." 

"  Do  you  believe  it  possible  for  an  impression  to 
have  been  conveyed  to  him  while  he  was  in  the  hyp- 

140 


"NOT   GUILTY."  143 

notized  state  that  would  impel  him  to  commit  an 
act  after  he  should  be  brought  out  of  that  state?" 

"Yes." 

"Do  you  think  it  possible  for  this  crime  to 
have  been  committed  as  set  forth  in  Miss  Menton's 
confession?" 

"Yes." 

"  Please  tell  the  jury  something  of  the  general 
characteristics  of  the  hypnotic  power." 

"  Hypnotism,"  began  Professor  Ryse,  "  is  not  yet 
thoroughly  understood.  The  uses  to  which  it  may 
be  put  are  more  numerous  than  even  the  most 
advanced  scientific  men  dreamed  of  five  years  ago. 
The  hypnotic  condition,  as  nearly  as  it  can  be 
defined,  is  almost  a  counterpart  of  somnambulism. 
It  is  a  well  established  fact  that  the  sleep-walker 
has^  absolutely  no  remembrance  in  his  waking 
moments  of  what  he  has  done  in  his  somnambulistic 
tours.  It  is  so  in  hypnotism.  It  has  been  proved, 
by  frequent  experiments,  that  a  man  may  be  hypno- 
tized on  a  certain  day  and  have  a  train  of  thought 
awakened  in  his  mind  by  the  operator,  and  then 
be  suddenly  restored  to  his  normal  condition.  A 
week  later,  say,  the  same  man  is  again  put  into  the 
hypnotic  trance.  It  is  quite  likely  that  he  will  at 
once  take  up  the  subject  which  the  operator  had 


144  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

suggested  to  his  mind  when  he  was  in  the  same 
condition  a  week  before,  and  continue  it  until  the 
operator  directs  his  thoughts  into  other  channels. 
It  has  been  proved,  too,  that  the  operator  may  con- 
vey impressions  to  his  subjects,  which,  under  a 
command  given  to  the  subject  at  the  same  time, 
will  emerge  from  the  registering  ganglia  of  the 
brain  at  a  day  and  hour,  even  weeks  distant,  and  be 
as  potent  as  if  the  subject  were  still  in  the  hypnotic 
sleep  before  the  operator." 

"What  kind  of  memory  would  you  call  that?" 
asked  Mr.  Wright. 

"  That  can  only  be  conjectured.  Some  writers 
claim  that  it  is  purely  cerebral  memory.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  spinal  cord  may  be  educated 
to  perform  the  functions  of  cerebral  memory.  I 
believe  that  actors  have  unconsciously  cultivated 
medullary  memory.  By  its  aid  they  are  enabled  to 
repeat  lines  of  a  part  without  conscious  volition. 
However,  wherever  the  place  of  retention  of  an 
impression  may  be,  there  can  be  no  question  but 
that  it  is  retained.  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
the  crime  was  committed  through  the  hypnotic 
power,  in  view  of  the  statement  of  the  operator." 

The  celebrated  Nurgson,  the  French  physiolo- 
gist, could  not  give  his  testimony  in  English,  and 


"NOT   GUILTY."  145 

it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  the  court  interpreter 
made  clear  some  of  his  technical  phrases.  He 
began  by  describing  the  immediate  effect  of  the 
hypnotic  influence.  Said  he: 

"  The  first  step  is  to  put  the  subject  into  a  pro- 
found sleep  —  a  state  of  complete  unconsciousness. 
His  mind  is  a  blank.  He  has  no  thoughts  save 
those  which  are  suggested  to  him  by  the  operator. 
He  is  as  if  in  a  dreamless  sleep;  dead,  for  the  time. 
As  I  have  said,  mental  activity  is  awakened  only 
by  the  operator.  In  the  ordinary  biological  condi- 
tion the  subject  has  his  eyes  open  and  seems  to 
know  what  is  taking  place;  but  in  the  complete 
hypnotic  trance  his  eyes  are  almost  invariably 
closed.  He  seems  to  be  in  a  torpor.  His  bodily 
movements  are  slow,  and  his  mind,  even  under  the 
immediate  direction  of  the  operator  works  labori- 
ously. There  is  an  appearance  of  stupidity  about 
him. 

"Some  subjects  are  more  susceptible  than 
others,  though  nine  persons  in  ten  may  be  hyp- 
notized. The  chief  requisite  is  a  willingness  to 
submit  to  the  influence.  The  subject  must  be  in  a 
state  of  mental  abstraction;  from  that  state  he 
passes  by  imperceptible  stages  into  the  hypnotic 
condition.  He  becomes,  as  has  been  well  expressed 


146  WAS   IT   A   CHIME? 

by  an  English  writer,  a  mere  statue  of  attention,  a 
listening,  expectant  life;  a  perfectly  undistracted 
faculty.  While  in  this  expectant  condition,  any- 
thing that  is  suggested  to  the  subject  is  magnified; 
joy  is  doubly  joyful ;  fear  is  doubly  fearful.  Every 
sense  is  exalted.  The  subject's  whole  being,  his 
entire  sensibility  seems  to  live  in  each  faculty 
of  perception,  as  it  is  aroused  to  action.  Even  his 
physical  strength  is  increased;  his  muscles  will 
stand  a  strain  that  would  lacerate  them  if  he  were 
in  his  normal  condition.  Men  who  are  incapable 
of  lifting  a  hundred  pounds  can  be  made  to  lift 
twice  that  weight.  Persons  have  been  known  to 
perform  feats  while  under  the  hypnotic  influence 
which  they  would  not  dare  even  attempt  in  their 
usual  state. 

"  Hypnotism  is  really  an  artificial  sleep.  What 
takes  place  during  the  time  that  a  person  is  in  that 
sleep  may  be  likened  to  the  dreams  that  one  has  in 
his  natural  sleep  of  which  he  has  no  recollection  — 
unconscious  cerebration.  There  is  nothing  super- 
natural about  it.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is 
a  dangerous  power.  .  Properly  used,  however,  it 
may  be  made  of  incalculable  benefit  to  mankind. 
Patients  on  whom  operations  were  to  be  performed 
have  been  hypnotized  and  the  operation  done  with- 


"NOT  GUILTY.**  147 

out  pain  to  them  and  without  their  knowledge.  It 
is  the  most  powerful  of  all  anaesthetics,  and  alto- 
gether harmless  in  its  effects.  Its  value  in  medi- 
cine is  just  beginning  to  be  understood.  Just 
before  I  left  Paris  an  experiment  was  made  in  the 
Salpetriere  Hospital,  which  was  more  wonderful 
than  the  exhibition  of  the  power  of  hypnotism 
which  this  case  affords.  A  woman  who  had  been 
hypnotized  was  placed  in  a  chair  on  one  side  of  a 
screen ;  a  dumb  woman  suffering  from  hysteria  was 
seated  on  the  other  side.  A  large  magnet  was 
placed  near  the  hypnotized  dumb  woman,  and  by 
its  aid  a  magnetic  current  was  established  between 
the  two  women.  Speech  was  almost  instantly 
restored  to  the  dumb  patient;  and  the  other,  when 
awakened  from  the  hypnotic  condition,  was  dumb. 
She  was  unable  to  utter  a  sound  for  several  hours, 
but  in  a  very  short  time  recovered  the  full  use  of 
her  organ  of  speech." 

"But  do  you  believe  that  an  impression  con- 
veyed as  you  have  described,  could  be  put  in 
execution  while  the  subject  was  in  his  natural 
Bleep?"  asked  the  District  Attorney. 

"It  is  not  impossible." 

"Have  you  ever  known  of  such  an  instance?" 

M.  Nurgson  admitted  he  had  not.     He  added: 


148  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

"  No  man  can  say  to  what  extent  hypnotism  may 
be  carried.  It  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  agents 
mankind  possesses.  The  world  is  only  awakening 
to  its  uses." 

"  If  murders  are  to  be  done  by  its  aid  it  is  bet- 
ter that  the  world  continue  in  ignorance,  I  think," 
remarked  the  District  Attorney. 

Other  scientific  gentlemen  were  called.  They 
all  testified  to  the  admitted  existence  of  the  hyp- 
notic power,  and  in  various  ways  described  its 
attendant  phenomena.  They  asserted  their  belief 
in  the  possibility  of  the  commission  of  a  crime  by 
a  hypnotic  subject  at  the  command  of  a  wicked 
operator. 

The  District  Attorney  had  no  testimony  to  offer. 
He  had  not  been  able  to  find  a  scientific  man  in 
New  York  who  was  willing  to  go  upon  the  stand 
and  deny  the  existence  of  the  hypnotic  power,  or 
the  possibility  that  a  crime  might  not  be  committed 
by  its  agency.  Thus  the  trial  of  Henry  Wheeler 
was  brought  to  a  close,  so  far  as  the  taking  of  testi- 
mony was  concerned. 

The  District  Attorney  knew  that  he  had  lost  his 
case;  he  read  it  in  the  faces  of  the  jury,  in  the 
manner  of  the  Judge,  and  there  could  be  no  doubt 
in  his  mind  as  to  where  the  sympathy  of  the  spec- 


"NOT   GUILTY."  149 

tators  lay.  His  argument  was  brief.  He  showed 
that  it  had  been  proved  that  -Wheeler  was  found  in 
the  room  with  the  body  of  the  murdered  man, 
and  with  the  doors  locked;  that  there  had  been  a 
quarrel  between  the  prisoner  and  the  deceased  on 
the  night  before  the  crime  was  committed,  and  that 
there  was  presumptive  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
jealousy  on  Wheeler's  part,  creating  a  sufficient 
motive  for  the  crime.  He  sat  down,  feeling  that  he 
had  done  his  duty. 

"I  leave  the  case  of  my  client  as  it  stands," 
said  Mr.  Wright.  "The  dying  words  of  Helene 
Menton,  and  the  testimony  of  these  eminent  men, 
versed  in  the  science  of  the  rnind  have,  I  believe, 
convinced  the  jury  that  Henry  Wheeler  is  not 
responsible  to  his  God,  nor  to  the  law,  for  the  com- 
mission of  this  act.  The  scientific  gentlemen,  who 
have  described  this  strange  power,  have  told  you  so. 
If  they  can  not  be  believed  in  a  matter  of  this 
nature,  who  can  ?  If  they  do  not  know,  who  does  ?" 

In  charging  the  jury  Judge  Blackwood  felt  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  lay  particular  stress  upon  the  im- 
portance of  the  "  expert "  testimony.  "  We  live  in 
a  progressive  age,"  he  said,  "and  it  will  not  do  to 
set  aside  those  things  which  our  minds  can  not  at 
first  fully  grasp.  My  name  is  mentioned  in  the 


150  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

confession  of  Helene  Menton.  It  is  true  that  I 
was  present  at  her  house  on  the  night  before  Paul 
Denman  came  to  his  death.  I  feel  it  to  be  my 
duty  as  a  Judge,  irregular  as  it  may  seem,  to  assure 
you  that  on  that  night  I  saw  indisputable  evidence 
of  this  strange  power.  Now,  if  you  believe  that 
Helene  Menton  told  the  truth  in  her  dying  words, 
it  will  be  right  for  you  to  accept  the  testimony  of 
the  scientific  gentlemen  who  have  explained  the 
known  extent  of  this  power,  and  acquit  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar." 

"  Thank  God  for  a  Judge  who  is  not  afraid  to 
aid  justice,"  said  Mr.  Wright  to  himself. 

The  jury  retired.  It  had  been  absent  not  more 
than  ten  minutes  when  a  tipstaff  announced  that  it 
was  ready  to  report.  The  jurymen  filed  in  and 
took  their  places. 

"Have  you  agreed  upon  a  verdict?"  asked  the 
Judge. 

"  We  have,"  responded  the  foreman.  He  handed 
a  slip  of  paper  to  the  Clerk  who  read,  aloud: 

"Not  guilty." 

A  cheer  went  up  from  the  audience.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  restore  order.  Wheeler  was  hurried 
away  by  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Ellersly.  Seated  in 


"NOT    GUILTY."  151 

the  lawyer's  office,  Mr.  Ellersly  said  with  pride,  as 
he  glanced  at  Wright: 

"  Didn't  I  tell  you,  Wheeler,  my  boy,  that  Jack 
v/ould  get  you  out  of  your  troubles  ?" 

"  To  him  and  that  noble  woman  I  owe  my  life," 
replied  Wheeler  with  feeling. 

"What  noble  woman?"  asked  Mr.  Ellersly  in 
surprise. 

"  Miss  Menton,  of  course.  It  was  a  grand  sacri- 
fice; only  a  noble  woman  could  have  made  it." 

"  What  are  you  talking  about?  "  said  Mr.  Ellersly 
sharply.  "  If  this  noble  woman  had  not  died  as  she 
did  you  would  have  been  hanged.  There  was  no 
sacrifice  about  it.  Most  people  confess  their  crimes 
before  they  die." 

"You  are  mistaken  in  your  opinion  of  Miss 
Menton,"  replied  Wheeler  calmly.  "  She  had  com- 
mitted no  crime.  I  believe  she  made  that  statement 
to  save  my  life,  not  because  it  was  true.  I  am  as 
sure  in  my  heart  of  that  as  I  am  that  I  did  not 
commit  a  murder." 

"Who  did  then?"  asked  Mr.  Ellersly,  beginning 
to  fear  that  his  friend  had  gone  daft. 

"Denman  died  by  his  own  hand."  Wheeler 
seemed  to  be  annoyed  that  Mr.  Ellersly  should 
believe  that  Denman  had  been  murdered. 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

1  'THINK   OF   THE   AWFUL   VENGEANCE   SHE   WREAKED 
THROUGH    YOU." 

The  Menton  house  was  closed  —  indeed,  it  was 
the  Menton  house  no  longer.  With  its  beautiful 
hostess  cold  in  a  new-made  grave,  with  the  wonder- 
ful laboratory  of  Julius  Menton  denuded  of  its  fur- 
naces and  retorts,  and  their  owner  over  the  seas  in 
Paris,  ending  his  degenerate  days  in  selfish  oblivion, 
it  suggested  only  a  memory  of  the  days  agone. 
But  the  drawing  room  in  which  Miss  Menton  had 
held  her  salons  seemed  to  retain  the  old  atmosphere. 

When  Julius  Menton  advertised  the  sale  of  his 
furniture,  Henry  Wheeler  hastened  to  buy  it;  and 
when  old  Menton  moved  out  Wheeler  moved  in, 
much  to  the  surprise  of  his  friends,  who  thought  he 
should  be  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  take  up  his 
abode  there.  Mr.  Ellersly  protested  vehemently. 
He  could  not  comprehend  how  Wheeler  could  volun- 
tarily surround  himself  with  the  associations  which 
lingered  around  the  place. 

"  You  might  as  well  go  to  an  insane  asylum  at 
152 


"  THINK   OF  THE  AWFUL  VENGEANCE.*'  153 

once,"  he  said.  "  The  memories  of  this  place  will 
drive  you  mad." 

"  They  will  be  sweet  memories  to  me,"  Wheeler 
answered,  simply. 

And  so  they  were.  He  placed  his  easel  in  the 
old  drawing  room,  and  his  working  hours  were 
spent  there.  He  believed  he  could  feel  the  pres- 
ence of  the  woman  who  had  spent  so  many  sad  and 
bitter  moments  within  its  walls.  The  only  grief 
he  had  was  for  the  loss  of  her  society.  In  his 
dreamy  moods  he  could  imagine  himself  listen- 
ing again  to  her  voice,  and  he  could  see  the  out- 
lines of  her  superb  form.  He  erected  a  monument 
over  her  grave,  and  revered  her  memory  with  a  ten- 
derness that  was  almost  hallowed.  At  times,  his 
friends  feared  that  the  shadow  which  had  fallen 
upon  his  life  had  unsettled  his  mind,  and  yet  there 
was  nothing  in  his  manner  to  indicate  that  he  was 
unhappy.  Though  more  thoughtful  than  of  old, 
yet  he  was  as  frank  and  cheerful  as  ever.  He  was 
not  in  need  of  their  sympathy. 

He  rarely  thought  of  Denman,  and  when  he  did 
it  was  without  tenderness.  The  friendship  which 
had  once  existed  between  them  was  not  perpetuated 
in  memory.  He  sometimes  felt  that  he  owed  it  to 


154  WAS  if  A  CRIME'? 

Miss  Menton  to  despise  the  man  who  had  caused 
her  so  much  misery. 

He  painted  as  he  had  never  painted  before,  and 
he  wrote  with  a  new  virility.  His  character  seemed 
to  be  more  stable,  his  individuality  more  intense. 
He  made  a  name  for  himself.  Perhaps  his  strange 
history  had  something  to  do  with  bringing  him  into 
prominence,  for  anything  or  anybody  who  is  unlike 
anything  or  anybody  else  is  quite  sure  of  attention 
from  the  world  these  days.  However  that  may  be, 
Wheeler  had  more  commissions  than  he  could  fill. 
Thus  he  had  entered  a  new  life.  The  mystery  of 
Paul  Denman's  death  had  been  a  turning  point  in 
his  career. 

One  day,  five  years  after  the  trial,  Mr.  Ellersly, 
still  hale  and  genial,  though  whiter  of  beard  and 
hair,  sat  in  Wheeler's  studio,  watching  with  interest 
the  development  of  a  picture  under  the  artist's 
brush.  They  had  sat  for  some  moments  in  silence. 
Mr.  Ellersly  looked  long  and  thoughtfully  at  a  life- 
size,  half-length  painting  in  oil  which  hung  upon 
the  wall  immediately  opposite  the  artist's  stool.  It 
was  an  idealized  portrait  of  Miss  Menton  —  a  truly 
wonderful  work  in  its  poetic  treatment. 

"Henry,"  asked  Mr.  Ellersly,  suddenly,  "why 
do  you  have  that  picture  hanging  constantly  before 


"THINK   OF   THE   AWFUL   VENGEANCE."  155 

you?"  nodding  toward  the  portrait.  "Doesn't  it 
give  you  the  blue  devils  when  you  look  at  her,  and 
think  of  the  awful  vengeance  she  wreaked  through 
you?" 

"Why  should  it?  "  asked  Wheeler,  turning  from 
his  work,  seriously  but  with  evident  irritation. 

"  Of  course  it  should  not,"  replied  Mr.  Ellersly, 
quickly  and  apologetically,  "for  you  are  not  re- 
sponsible for  the  act ;  but  doesn't  it  call  up  unpleas- 
ant memories  ?  " 

"My  dear  Mr.  Ellersly,"  said  Wheeler,  "I  can 
never  forget  the  kindness  you  have  shown  me,  nor 
the  true  friendship  and  aid  you  gave  me  when  I 
most  needed  sympathy  and  help.  But  I  must  beg 
of  you  not  to  speak  of  this  matter  as  if  it  was  I 
who  killed  Paul  Denman.  The  thought  is  repul- 
sive to  me  and  equally  as  absurd.  I  have  never 
talked  with  you  on  this  subject  —  that  is,  I  have 
never  told  you  what  I  believe,  what  I  know. 

"  Let  us  admit  to  start  with  that  Miss  Menton 
despised  Denman.  It  is  possible  that  in  the  bitter- 
ness of  feeling  which  the  wrongs  he  had  done  her 
engendered,  she  may  have  attempted  to  take  her  re- 
venge in  the  way  she  described  in  her  confession. 
This  may  be  possible ;  but  I  do  not  believe  it.  She 
would  never  have  made  me  a  party  —  even  an  inno- 


156  WAS   IT   A   CRIME? 

cent  one  to  a  crime  —  to  a  murder.  However,  ad- 
mit that  she  did  intend  that  I  should  do  a  murder. 
Does  it  follow  that  I  did  it?  Not  at  all.  If  she 
had  directed  me  to  fly  across  the  East  Elver 'I  be- 
lieve those  experts  would  have  sworn  that  it  was 
not  impossible  for  me  to  have  done  it.  The  theory 
on  which  I  was  cleared  of  the  charge  of  killing 
Paul  Denman  was  ridiculous.  I  am  very  sorry  that 
Miss  Menton's  confession  was  ever  introduced.  It 
placed  me  in  an  awkward  position.  I  could  have  been 
cleared  by  showing  that  Denman  killed  himself. 
We  were  all  frightened  at  the  time.  For  myself  I 
know  that  it  was  impossible  to  think  clearly.  But 
I  can  see  it  all  very  plainly  now. 

"Wright  should  have  shown  that  there  was  no 
motive  to  connect  me  with  the  crime;  that  there 
was  absolutely  no  reason  why  I  should  have  killed 
Denman.  We  were  not  rivals,  and  I  was  never  jeal- 
ous of  him,  simply  annoyed,  at  first,  because  I  could 
not  learn  what  the  relation  had  been  between  Den- 
man and  Miss  Menton  in  Paris.  The  fact  that  I 
was  discovered  in  the  room  with  the  doors  locked 
conld  have  been  used  to  my  advantage,  for  a  mur- 
derer does  not  give  the  alarm  to  notify  the  world  of 
his  crime,  and  call  in  witnesses  to  prove  that  he  is 
the  guilty  man.  The  whole  theory  is  wrong. 


157 

"  I  am  convinced  that  Denman  died  by  his  own 
hand.  There  was  no  murder  about  it.  He  was 
morbid  and  full  of  strange  fears  that  night,  as  he 
himself  confessed  to  me.  Probably  rejnorse  so 
preyed  upon  his  mind  as  to  suggest  the  ending  of  a 
useless  life.  The  jury  could  have  been  made  to  see 
this.  Wright's  theory  and  his  experts  were  unne- 
cessary. If  I  committed  that  crime,  don't  you 
believe  that  in  all  the  years  that  have  passed  some 
sudden  thought  would  have  come  to  me  —  some 
re-awakened  impression  that  would  bring  back  the 
deed  to  my  mind?  There  would  be  a  something 
that  would  tell  me  that  it  was  really  I  who  killed 
Paul  Denman.  I  have  never  had  such  a  thought  — 
never  the  vaguest  kind  of  impression.  On  the  con- 
trary, my  belief  that  Denman  committed  suicide 
grows  stronger  every  day.  I  am  a  reasonable  man; 
I  am  in  health;  my  brain  is  not  affected,  and  I  can 
understand  a  proposition  as  clearly  as  most  men. 
Therefore  I  refuse  to  believe  that  I  could  commit 
a  murder  under  any  influence  and  not  know  it.  A 
thousand  experts  could  not  make  me  think  other- 
wise. I  shall  believe  as  I  do  now  to  my  dying  day." 

And  he  did. 

THE  END. 


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